Department for Transport

Seaborne Freight

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2023 to Question 127806 on Seaborne Freight, how much his Department paid in fees to commercial advisors for advice on (a) negotiating and (b) terminating the 2018-19 ferry contracts.

Mr Richard Holden: As advice on prospective arrangements for termination was partly embodied in that provided for negotiations, it is not possible to give an accurate breakdown between the two.

Bus Services: Finance

Iain Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which local transport authorities were allocated funding for demand responsive transport schemes as part of the Bus Service Improvement Plan process; and how much funding each such authority was allocated.

Mr Richard Holden: Fifteen Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) were allocated funding for demand responsive transport (DRT) schemes as part of the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) process, totalling over £37m. This figure only includes schemes from LTAs who have had their funding confirmed. In cases where the LTA has not provided granular detail, some elements of this funding will include funding for other services alongside DRT.

Bus Services: Tickets

Iain Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to evidence given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Roads, Buses and Places to the Transport Committee at Question 423 on 29 June 2022, what progress has been made in implementing multi-operator ticketing for buses in England outside London; and what stage his Department’s planned procurement process to develop a technical solution for multi-operator ticketing and automatic revenue apportionment has reached.

Mr Richard Holden: My Department is working with representatives from the bus industry, through the Project Coral consortium, as well as Transport for the West Midlands and Midlands Connect, to develop a technical solution for multi-operator ticketing and automatic revenue apportionment for buses in England outside of London. Procurement is planned later this year. We are also encouraging local authorities in England, through Enhanced Partnerships, to pursue low-cost, interim measures whilst the national system is being developed. For example, through paper-based, multi-operator tickets and mutual acceptance of return tickets, where different operators serve the same corridor.

Bus Services: Warwick and Leamington

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many bus services were reduced in Warwick and Leamington constituency in 2022.

Mr Richard Holden: The majority of bus services in England outside London are run on a commercial basis and decisions on the withdrawal of these services are for bus operators to make. The Department does not collect or report data on a constituency level basis. The Government has provided nearly £2 billion in emergency and recovery funding since March 2020 to bus operators and local transport authorities (LTAs) in England outside London to support services and mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. As a condition of receiving the Bus Recovery Grant through to March 2023, participating bus operators are required to maintain a minimum service level of 80% compared to pre-Covid service levels to prevent significant service reductions; with limited exceptions. The Government is also taking proactive steps to help increase patronage by providing £60 million to help bus operators cap single fares at £2 on services in England outside London from 1 January to 31 March 2023. Over 140 operators covering more than 4,600 routes are participating in the scheme, which will help increase patronage on buses and help millions save on their regular travel costs.

Bus Services: Finance

Antony Higginbotham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to take steps to ensure that bus services which connect communities are not affected after the current phase of Bus Recovery Grant Funding ends at the beginning of April 2023.

Mr Richard Holden: The Government has made available nearly £2 billion since March 2020, through emergency and recovery grants, to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on the bus sector. This support is currently in place until the end of March 2023. The Department is actively considering its support for the bus sector beyond that point. The Government already provides around £250 million annually to support bus services through the Bus Service Operators Grant, and supports spending of around £1 billion a year so that older and disabled people can travel on buses throughout England for free. The Government is also taking proactive steps to help increase patronage by providing £60 million to help bus operators cap single fares at £2 on services in England outside London from 1 January to 31 March 2023. Over 140 operators covering more than 4,600 routes are participating in the scheme, which will help increase patronage on buses and help millions save on their regular travel costs.

Dangerous Driving: Death

Andrew Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of imposing a mandatory lifetime driving ban on people found guilty of having caused death by dangerous driving.

Mr Richard Holden: We keep the law under review and listen to the concerns of those affected by tragic cases of death or serious injury. We have already increased the disqualification period for those who cause death by driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The Government is also considering a Call for Evidence on motoring offences. while the potential scope and timings are being confirmed, it is expected that it will include issues around drink and drug driving, and the offence of failure to stop and report. There may also be the opportunity to highlight other areas of concern.

Motor Vehicles: Registration

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2023 to Question 122413 on Motor Vehicles: Registration, what the dedicated resource is that his Department has assigned to help Ukrainian refugees who need to register their vehicle; whether the dedicated resource can be used to help obtain certificates of conformity; and how the dedicated resource can be accessed.

Mr Richard Holden: Additional dedicated Department for Transport (DfT) personnel have been assigned to support Ukrainians who wish to register their vehicle, and the DfT has recently published detailed guidance to clearly outline the process. The dedicated resource can be accessed by contacting DVLA, DVSA or VCA as appropriate depending on the nature of the enquiry and as outlined in the guidance. As a Certificate of Conformity is issued by the manufacturer, a vehicle owner must make this request direct to the manufacturer. If a Ukrainian has a question regarding certificates they can contact the VCA for assistance.

Bus Services

Iain Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Enhanced Partnerships are operating in England outside London; and what the current status is of any proposed Enhanced Partnerships not yet operating.

Mr Richard Holden: 76 Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) in England outside London are pursuing an Enhanced Partnership (EP) to deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs) and provide better bus services to passengers. The majority of LTAs that have been awarded BSIP funding have now made their EPs. For LTAs not in receipt of BSIP funding, 10 are finalising the content of their EP, in consultation with local bus operators and the rest have either now made their EP or are in the final stage awaiting the approval of local decision makers before making their EP. We expect the vast majority of EPs to be made and in operation by 31 March 2023.

Bus Services: Finance

Iain Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many local transport authorities have received confirmation of their Bus Service Improvement Plan funding; how much of that funding has been disbursed; and which of those authorities have received their funding.

Mr Richard Holden: Funding for 29 Bus Service Improvement Plans has been confirmed, representing 31 Local Transport Authorities. So far, payments have been made to 23 Local Transport Authorities to deliver the first year of their plans. To date, £143.5 million has been paid.

High Speed 2 Line: Leeds

Alec Shelbrooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to release safeguarded land in (a) Elmet and Rothwell constituency and (b) the City of Leeds in the context of the cancellation of HS2 Phase 2b.

Huw Merriman: The Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands set out the Government’s plans for HS2 East from the West Midlands to the East Midlands and committed to considering the optimal way for HS2 to serve Leeds. Terms of Reference for the study will be published soon. As a result, the Government confirmed it would maintain existing safeguarding and property schemes along the route of HS2 Phase 2b until a decision following this study is taken. In the meantime, retaining safeguarding provides continued access for affected property owners to the full range of statutory and non-statutory property schemes that are available on the rest of the HS2 route. If decisions are taken that safeguarded land is no longer essential for future plans, then safeguarding would be lifted and any property acquired in those areas sold.

High Speed 2 Line

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many employees in total are employed on HS2 development and construction; how many businesses are in the supply chain; and what recent estimate he has made of the number of employees who are dependent on that supply chain.

Huw Merriman: HS2 Ltd informed the Department on 2 February 2023 that it directly employs 1,849 people. The Department’s last 6-monthly report to Parliament on HS2, published in October 2022, stated that the programme is supporting over 29,000 jobs with 2,580 businesses working on HS2.

High Speed 2 Line

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) capacity and (b) connectivity improvements planned for stations which will not be directly served by HS2.

Huw Merriman: HS2 provides high-speed inter-city services on dedicated lines. HS2 will free up passenger and freight capacity on the West Coast Mail Line (WCML),East Coast Mainline (ECML) and Midland Mainline (MML).

Railways: Finance

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons his Department has not published a recent update to the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline.

Huw Merriman: We are currently reviewing the rail enhancements portfolio to ensure that the schemes within the RNEP reflect the priorities of the government whilst ensuring value for money to the taxpayer.We are committed to publishing the RNEP update as soon as possible to provide clarity on the progress of projects.

TransPennine Express: Standards

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had  discussions with TransPennine Express on the (a) punctuality and (b) frequency of services between Dewsbury and Huddersfield.

Huw Merriman: I have made clear to TransPennine Express’s (TPE’s) management that its current performance is unacceptable. Rail North Partnership is working with TPE on an improvement plan to build back a reliable service. I have weekly meetings to monitor TPE’s progress and recently met TPE’s managing director to impress the need for urgent improvement.

Airports: Disability

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the proportion of passengers requiring assistance pre-notified to airports by airlines and travel agents.

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to help improve (a) the timeliness of notification to airports by airlines and travel agents of passengers requiring assistance and (b) accessibility at airports.

Jesse Norman: The Government works closely with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK’s specialist aviation regulator, who are responsible for enforcing consumer laws, including Regulation 1107/2006 (as retained in UK law). This sets out the requirements for capturing and sharing information on assistance requests. The CAA collect annual data on airport accessibility services, including pre-notification by airports and airlines, and will take enforcement action against individual carriers as required. The CAA recently published an interim report on the performance of airports against its accessibility framework. The report highlighted airports requiring further improvement, and airports performing well. The CAA will continue to monitor and work with airports to implement improvements and publish its usual annual report later this year. In addition, it will soon publish a consultation on airline accessibility which will include guidance on airlines’ obligations regarding pre-notification, amongst other requirements, and seek to assess airlines against publicly available criteria.

Electric Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries

Selaine Saxby: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the findings by Cambridge Econometrics in the report The impact of a 2030 ICE phase-out in the UK, published in 2020, that if the UK motor vehicle industry could secure a greater share of the UK domestic market for new vehicles in the context of a 2030 phase-out of internal combustion engines, this could potentially lead to the creation of an additional 63,000 jobs in the UK compared to a 2035 phase-out.

Mr Richard Holden: The end of sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, will help the UK meet its climate change obligations. It will improve air quality in our towns and cities, support economic growth, and create new jobs in our industrial heartlands. The 2030 phase out will contribute to increasing the supply of ZEVs to meet increasing demand from UK consumers and will make the UK a more attractive environment for vehicle manufacturers to produce and sell ZEVs. Alongside government support, this will generate new employment opportunities in the BEV supply chain, as well as in the chargepoint and energy industries. As estimated in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, the production of all zero emission road transport vehicles has the potential to support up to 72,000 jobs, worth up to £9.7 billion GVA in the year 2050. We will shortly bring forward a proposed ZEV mandate to support legislative delivery of our phase out commitments. We will consider the potential impact this legislation will have on jobs as part of our Government Response Impact Assessment.

Driving Licences: Applications

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on how much the DVLA pays GP practices for processing short-term medical driving licence applications.

Mr Richard Holden: The provision of information to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency as part of its investigations into an individual’s fitness to drive is not part of the NHS contract. GP practices provide a private service for the completion of medical questionnaires required for driver licensing purposes.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to take steps to ensure that all public electric vehicle chargers must (a) allow for direct card payment and (b) not require the use of an app.

Jesse Norman: In coming months, the Government expects to pass regulations to mandate that contactless payment is available at all newly installed chargepoints capable of charging over 7.1kW. This requirement will extend to all existing chargepoints at 50kW and over, one year after the legislation comes into effect. The Government has also announced its intention to mandate payment roaming to enable streamlined payment without the need for numerous apps. All chargepoint operators will need to offer roaming at all of their public chargepoints by connecting to a third party roaming provider. Consumers will be able to pay to charge across multiple networks using a single app or RFID (radio frequency identity) card.

Bus Services: East Yorkshire

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to support and encourage the installation of more audio-visual real time information on busses and trains for visually-impaired and hard of hearing passengers in East Yorkshire.

Mr Richard Holden: We have required buses funded through the government’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme to provide audible and visible information as standard. We also plan to require the provision of audible and visible information on local bus and coach services across Great Britain, and intend to introduce the Accessible Information Regulations shortly. We have also allocated £3.55m to the Real Time Information Group, who will be supporting small operators with the upfront costs of the planned Regulations. As of 1 January 2022, all passenger rolling stock are compliant with accessibility standards, including requirements for dynamic audible and visible information.

Roads: Accidents

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's Road Safety Statement 2019, published in July 2019, what his Department planed timescale is for publishing research on visual impairments and road casualties.

Mr Richard Holden: As part of the Road Safety Statement, the Department commissioned research to explore visual impairments and road casualties, and to understand the extent to which driver eyesight problems or visual impairments pose a road safety risk in the UK. This research is nearing completion and will be published in due course.

Monuments: Repairs and Maintenance

Samantha Dixon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many local authorities fund the management and upkeep of historic scheduled monuments as part of their highways budget.

Mr Richard Holden: The Department does not hold this information.

Roads: Accidents

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of pothole injury compensation from April 2021 to April 2022.

Mr Richard Holden: The Department has made no estimate of the cost to the public purse of pothole injury compensation from April 2021 to April 2022.In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland responsibility for maintaining the highway rests with the respective devolved administration.

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence: Land

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the document entitled Map of lands owned by the MOD UK establishments North Region, published on 12 December 2014, if he will publish a Defence Infrastructure Organisation map of his Department's establishments in the North Region as of 1 December 2022.

Alex Chalk: I can confirm that an updated map of the Ministry of Defence establishments in the North Region will be placed in Library of the House.MOD establishments in the North Region of UK (pdf, 3060.0KB)

Armed Forces Covenant: Local Government

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he takes to monitor the adherence of local authorities with the Armed Forces Covenant.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Armed Forces Act 2021 placed a duty on specific local public bodies in the areas of health, housing, and education to have due regard to the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant. The Government will report on the overall effectiveness of the Duty within five years of it coming into force, in accordance with good practice, to allow time for impacts to emerge. We will be working with Local Authorities and other bodies in scope of the duty to ensure they are aware of their obligations to ensure the Armed Forces Community do not face disadvantage. We have also published Statutory guidance to which provides key information to help bodies comply with the duty which can be found at the following link; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/armed-forces-covenant-duty-statutory-guidance

Ministry of Defence: Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps their Department takes to comply with section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992; and if they will make a statement.

Dr Andrew Murrison: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 26 January 2023 to Question 127799.Ministry of Defence: Trade Unions (docx, 21.9KB)

War Graves: Shropshire

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what financial support his Department provides for the maintenance and care of war graves in Shropshire; and how his Department coordinates that maintenance with the Church of England.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The care and maintenance of the graves of those personnel who lost their lives in the two World Wars throughout the UK is undertaken on behalf of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The Department provides an annual Grant-in-Aid contribution to the Commission to fund the enduring work and in doing so provides the largest element of the Commission’s funding. In taking this work forward the Commission and the MOD engage with the relevant authorities as required, including the Church of the England.

Fleet Solid Support Ships: Contracts

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the clauses in the Fleet Solid Support manufacturing contract that relate to UK content, jobs and investment before that contract is signed.

Alex Chalk: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 January 2023 to Question number 128601 to the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey). Fleet Solid Support Ships: Contracts (docx, 18.0KB)

Harland and Wolff: Welding

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Maritime Skills Commission will have any input into the new welding academy to be set up by Harland and Wolff.

Alex Chalk: Harland & Wolff have a proposed model for their new welding academy and are currently at the planning stage of how this will be implemented. All key stakeholders will be consulted throughout this process in the coming months, including the Maritime Skills Commission.

Armed Forces: Housing

Helen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Ministry of Defence properties in North Shropshire were used as service family accommodation as of 31 January 2023; and how many and what proportion of that accommodation was deemed to meet the minimum standard for such accommodation.

Alex Chalk: There are 854 SFA properties in North Shropshire of which 666 are occupied. On 31 January 2023, 592 of these were occupied by service families and 74 were occupied by civilian occupants under the private rental scheme. Of the 592 SFA occupied by service families, 585 (98.8%) meet or exceed the Decent Homes standard. The seven occupied properties below the Decent Homes standard are structurally safe and sound and met the standard at the point of allocation. However, they have since fallen below and works are planned to bring them back up to the standard or above. All SFA allocated to Service families in the UK meets the Government's Decent Homes Standard as a minimum. Homes below this standard are not allocated to Service personnel and their families.

Armed Forces: Housing

Helen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many residential homes for service personnel and their families are owned by the Ministry of Defence in North Shropshire; and how many of those homes were empty as of 31 January 2023.

Alex Chalk: None of the Service Family Accommodation (SFA) in North Shropshire are owned by the Ministry of Defence. All 854 SFA in this area are leased either directly from Annington Homes Limited or through a Private Finance Initiative project.As at 31 January 2023, 188 of these SFA were vacant. However, 25 have been offered or allocated to Service Families. The remaining vacant SFA are being retained for potential future military use.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Energy Bills Rebate: Park Homes

Patricia Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether park home residents who pay for their energy usage through an intermediary such as a park home owner will be eligible for the Energy Bills Support Scheme discount where the intermediary has benefited from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme.

Graham Stuart: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Energy Bills Rebate

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what length of time it takes to process payments under the Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding once an application has been submitted.

Graham Stuart: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Warm Home Discount Scheme

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has been made of the number of people living in terraced houses who are no longer eligible for the warm homes discount following the changes to eligibility in 2022.

Graham Stuart: As households previously applied through their suppliers, who set their own application processes and eligibility criteria and selected successful applicants each year, the Government has not been able to assess how many households are no longer eligible. 3.9 million terraced properties in England and Wales were calculated as having a low energy cost score using property characteristic data from the Valuation Office Agency. Although 3.0 million had a high energy cost score, not all of the households living in these properties will be eligible, for instance if they do not meet the low-income criteria or were not named on the participating energy supplier’s electricity bill or account.

Alternative Fuel Payments: District Heating

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether households connected to communal and district heat networks will be eligible for the Non-Domestic Alternative Fuel Payment.

Graham Stuart: The Government is determined that the benefits of all energy support schemes are received by the appropriate party. The Government will provide further details on the Non-Domestic Alternative Fuel Payment shortly.

Buildings: Solar Power

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to help increase the use of solar panels on roofs; and if he will make a statement.

Graham Stuart: The Government is supporting the installation of rooftop solar photovoltaic panels through provision of fiscal incentives for business, removal of VAT for residential accommodation, availability of grants under several energy efficiency schemes and the right to be paid for any electricity exported to the grid under the Smart Export Guarantee. The Government is also exploring options to facilitate low cost finance from retail lenders for solar installations.

Energy Bills Rebate: Park Homes

Patricia Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether (a) park home residents who pay for their energy usage through the park home owner and (b) other domestic energy users who do not have a domestic electricity meter or direct contract with an electricity supplier will receive support through the Energy Bills Support Scheme discount when applications open at the end of February.

Graham Stuart: The Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS AF) will provide £400 support to those households that do not have a direct relationship with a domestic electricity supplier in England, Scotland, and Wales, with the application portal due to open by 27 February. However, where a park home site manager or landlord has a domestic energy contract, they will already be receiving EBSS support automatically, and this support needs to be passed on to the end user in a just and reasonable way.

Energy Bills Rebate

Patricia Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether domestic energy users who pay for their energy usage through an intermediary such as a park home manager are eligible for the Energy Bills Support Scheme discount when applications open at the end of February.

Graham Stuart: The Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS AF) will provide £400 support to those households that do not have a direct relationship with a domestic electricity supplier in England, Scotland, and Wales, with the application portal due to open by 27 February. However, in cases where a park home site manager has a domestic energy contract, they will already be receiving EBSS support automatically, and this support needs to be passed on to the end user in a just and reasonable way.

Energy Bill Discount Scheme: Hospices

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of replacing the Energy Bill Relief Scheme with the Energy Bill Discount Scheme on the UK hospice sector.

Graham Stuart: The new Energy Bill Discount Scheme (EBDS) will run from April until March 2024 and continue to provide a discount to eligible non-domestic customers, including hospices. An HMT-led review into the operation of the current Energy Bill Relief Schemes was conducted with the objective of significantly reducing the overall burden on the taxpayer/public finances, and ensuring support is targeted at those most in need and unable to adjust to recent energy price rises. The review considered a range of qualitative and quantitative evidence, including input from businesses and stakeholders. The new scheme strikes a balance between supporting non-domestic customers and limiting taxpayer’s exposure to volatile energy markets, with a cap set at £5.5 billion.

Energy: Meters

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2023 to Question 130102 on Energy: Meters, if he will make it his policy to set reduction targets on forced prepayment meter installations.

Graham Stuart: Discussions with stakeholders regarding forced prepayment meter installations are ongoing.

Products: Safety

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many enforcement actions taken by the Office for Product Safety and Standards concerned products available to purchase on third party online marketplaces in 2022.

Kevin Hollinrake: During 2022 the Office for Product Safety and Standards has undertaken a programme of enforcement activity relating to the availability of unsafe and non-compliant products from online platforms. This includes safety alerts and withdrawal notices as well as activity at the Border to prevent unsafe products being placed on the UK market, test purchasing and assessment of high-risk products such as small electrical goods, toys containing magnets and button batteries and personal protective equipment. This has resulted in 308 notifications on the Product Safety Recalls and Alert system and specific Product Safety Alerts on angle grinder chainsaws, hot hairbrushes and baby self-feeding devices.

Products: Safety

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses the Office for Product Safety and Standards have taken prosecution action against as a result of (a) serious and (b) recurrent non-compliance with product safety regulations in each year since 2018.

Kevin Hollinrake: Since April 2018 the Office of Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has taken a range of enforcement action including 65 recall notices and 21 withdrawal notices. In the last financial year (2021/22), OPSS published unsafe product alerts for 500 products and risk-based product safety checks at the border resulted in some two and a half million unsafe items being refused entry. In addition to these measures, prosecutions are undertaken where it is proportionate to the alleged offence and focused on removing the risk to the consumer. No prosecutions for unsafe items have been concluded but they will be published by OPSS in its annual report.

Digital Technology: Competition

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will bring forward publication of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill to ensure the regime can be put into operation.

Kevin Hollinrake: My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in the Autumn Statement that the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill will be brought forward in the 3rd Session. Further details on this will be announced in due course.

Iron and Steel: Manufacturing Industries

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2023 to Question 132361 on Iron and Steel: Manufacturing Industries, if he will make an assessment of the reasons for the difference in the quantity of steel produced in (a) the UK and (b) Germany in 2021.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: We have not made any assessment of the reasons for the difference in the quantity of steel produced in the UK and Germany in 2021. Any differences will be a result of commercial decisions taken by firms in the two countries.

Consumer Goods: Safety

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2022 to Question 105438 on Consumer Goods: Safety, when his Department plans to publish the product safety review.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Product Safety Review consultation is currently being finalised and will be published shortly.

Small Businesses

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his timetable is for publishing the Government's Enterprise Strategy.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government is focused on driving economic growth by encouraging enterprise, tackling poor productivity, and getting more people into better paid jobs right across the country. My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer set out the Government’s plans on 27 January, ahead of the Spring Budget due on 15th March. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will set out further actions on scaling-up business growth in due course.

Royal Mail Group: Vesa Equity Investment

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of acquisition of Royal Mail by Vesa Equity on the future of the Universal Service Obligation.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Universal Service Obligation is a legally binding commitment on the designated universal service provider and its ongoing provision would be required irrespective of ownership of the business.

Royal Mail Group: Universal Service Obligation

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the profitability of the services carried out by Royal Mail Group under the Universal Service Obligation.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Postal Services Act 2011 designates Ofcom as the independent regulator for the postal sector with a duty to ensure the provision of a financially sustainable and efficient universal postal service. Under its duty, Ofcom monitors the service provided by Royal Mail and its financial performance and publishes its findings in an Annual Monitoring Update. This is focused on Royal Mail’s ‘Reported Business’, which includes all universal services, as well as other services which are delivered over the universal service network, namely access products and retail bulk mail. Ofcom’s Annual Monitoring Update 2021-22 is available at: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/postal-services/information-for-the-postal-industry/monitoring_reports.

Growth Hubs

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of (a) small business awareness of and (b) small business satisfaction with the network of Growth Hubs.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Government values the work of the network of 38 Growth Hubs in England both in directly providing advice and support to businesses of all sizes and sectors, and in joining up wider business support activities locally. Local Enterprise Partnerships reported that in 2021/22 Growth Hubs engaged with 2.2 million individuals and businesses in total, and reported an average customer satisfaction rate of 89% amongst users of their services.

Warm Home Discount Scheme: Universal Credit

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an estimate of the number of people on Universal Credit who are no longer eligible for the Warm Homes Discount following the changes to eligibility in 2022.

Graham Stuart: As households on Universal Credit previously applied through their suppliers, who set their own application processes and eligibility criteria and selected successful applicants each year, the Government has not been able to assess how many households are no longer eligible. In England and Wales, over 770,000 households in receipt of Universal Credit were identified as eligible to receive a rebate automatically. Additionally, the Government has contacted potentially eligible households that could not be provided with the rebate automatically. They may become eligible if they contact the Warm Home Discount helpline.

Warm Home Discount Scheme

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of people living in houses with an Energy Performance Certificate score of D or below who are no longer eligible for the warm homes discount following changes to eligibility in 2022.

Graham Stuart: As households previously applied through their suppliers, who set their own application processes and eligibility criteria and selected successful applicants each year, the Government has not been able to assess how many households are no longer eligible. The Government does not have data available on eligibility by Energy Performance Certificate energy rating.

Energy Bills Rebate: Park Homes and Ports

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on what date people who live in (a) park homes and (b) marinas will be able to apply online for the Energy Bills Support Scheme.

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason the application portal for the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding did not open in January 2023.

Graham Stuart: The Government is finalising several elements of the scheme that are critical to delivery. There are significant complexities in delivering a novel scheme with a wide variety of eligible groups with different energy arrangements. The Government must ensure consumers are protected; public money is well spent with robust verification and anti-fraud checks; and that local authorities are prepared to deliver support to eligible households.

Energy Bills Rebate

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the number of individuals eligible to make an application for payment under Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding.

Graham Stuart: The Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding will provide support of £400 for energy bills for around 900,000 households without a direct relationship to a domestic electricity supplier.

Iron and Steel: Manufacturing Industries

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2023 to Question 129769 on Iron and Steel: Energy, if he will publish the outcomes of the meeting with steel trade union representatives held on 24 January 2023.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: This was an informal conversation in which Community Union set out their ambitions for the steel industry and all parties discussed current issues.

Energy Bills Discount Scheme: Iron and Steel

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2023 to Question 127746, if he will make an estimate of the average saving the Energy Bills Discount Scheme will provide to steel producers.

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2023 to Question 127746 on Iron and Steel: Energy, if he will make an estimate of the value of the Government support to the steel sector with energy costs since 2013.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The new Energy Bill Discount Scheme will support steel producers facing high energy prices through issuing a per-unit discount to their energy bills. The calculated discount will depend on the terms of their contract and the future price of energy. We cannot provide an average estimate, but for steel firms eligible for the Energy and Trade Intensive Industry support, for electricity the maximum discount on 70% of usage will be £89 per megawatt hour (MWh) with a price threshold of £185 per MWh. For gas, the maximum discount will be £40 per MWh with a price threshold of £99 per MWh, also on 70% of usage. The remaining 30% of usage will be supported at the same level as non-domestic customers who do not qualify for the Energy and Trade Intensive Industry support. We have provided the steel sector more than £800m since 2013 to help with energy costs.

Iron and Steel: Manufacturing Industries

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 131201 on Iron and Steel: Manufacturing Industries, If he will publish the outcome of the call with members of the steel sector on 6 December 2022.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: This was an informal roundtable discussion, part of a regular series, to discuss the current issues facing the steel sector. The meeting covered a number of topics, including energy costs, decarbonisation support, Government procurement, and trade remedies.

Energy Bills Rebate: Park Homes

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the application portal will open for the extension to the Energy Bills Support Scheme for people living in park homes.

Graham Stuart: The application portal for the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding is scheduled to open by 27 February. In addition to this portal, a dedicated customer helpline will be available to assist customers who do not have online access with further details to be released in February.

Energy: Meters

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking with Ofgem to ensure energy suppliers adhere to existing rules on prepayment meters.

Graham Stuart: Ofgem has stringent rules on the force-fitting of prepayment meters and is responsible for ensuring licensed energy suppliers comply with those rules. Ofgem publishes details of its compliance and enforcement action on its website at: www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-policy-and-regulation/compliance-and-enforcement. The Government has set out its 5-point plan regarding prepayment meters and Ministers will keep the House updated on its progress. Ofgem has launched a new prepayment meter investigation, in response to the 5-point plan. I have spoken to Ofgem to discuss the specific case of British Gas.

Energy: Meters

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of regulations on the circumstances in which energy suppliers can force customers to use prepayment meters.

Graham Stuart: Ofgem restricts the force-fitting of a prepayment meter on customers who are in debt, except as a last resort. When installing a PPM, suppliers must consider whether this is safe and practicable, including whether a PPM is appropriate for the customer, before remotely switching or installing a PPM under warrant. The Government has set out its 5-point plan regarding PPM and Ministers will keep the House updated on its progress. Ofgem has launched a new PPM investigation, in response to the plan. I have spoken to Ofgem to discuss the specific case of British Gas.

Energy Bills Rebate: Landlord and Tenant

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that landlords share the support provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme with their tenants.

Graham Stuart: Third-party intermediaries, such as landlords, who receive the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) must pass that support through to end users, such as tenants, in a just and reasonable way. The Government has introduced regulations to require that EBSS support is provided to the people it is designed to help. Further details can be found here.

Energy Bills Rebate: Applications

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how long it will take to assess applications to the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Fund.

Graham Stuart: The assessment of applications will be completed by local authorities. Cases will vary in complexity and the length of time it takes to assess them will vary accordingly.

Energy Bills Rebate: Applications

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Fund application launch has been delayed to 27 February 2023.

Graham Stuart: The Government is finalising several elements of the scheme that are critical to delivery. There are significant complexities in delivering a novel scheme with a wide variety of eligible groups with different energy arrangements. The Government must ensure consumers are protected; public money is well spent with robust verification and anti-fraud checks; and that local authorities are prepared to deliver support to eligible households.

Energy Bills Discount Scheme: Animal Welfare

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Energy Bills Discount Scheme will include businesses delivering animal health and welfare standards in livestock production.

Graham Stuart: All non-domestic energy consumers using electricity or gas from the grid will be eligible for support under the Energy Bills Discount Scheme.

Energy Bills Discount Scheme: Bradford East

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses in Bradford East have received support under the Energy Bills Discount Scheme.

Graham Stuart: None.

Warm Home Discount Scheme: Newport East

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households are eligible for the Warm Home Discount in Newport East constituency; and how many payments were made to eligible households in Newport East constituency as of 31 December 2022.

Graham Stuart: The Government does not hold constituency-level data on eligibility for, or payments of, Warm Home Discount rebates.

Energy: Prices

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking with his Cabinet colleagues to support businesses with energy prices.

Graham Stuart: The Government recognises the challenges that businesses are facing and is committed to helping ensure they are able to thrive. The Energy Bill Relief Scheme provides a discount on the wholesale element of gas and electricity bills to ensure that all eligible businesses that receive their energy from licensed suppliers, are protected from high energy costs over the winter period. The new Energy Bill Discount Scheme, will run from April until March 2024, and continue to provide a discount to eligible businesses.

Northern Ireland Office

Immigration Controls: Northern Ireland

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many meetings he has had with Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance on the Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme.

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many meetings he has had with Tourism Northern Ireland on the Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme.

Mr Steve Baker: The Home Office is the lead UK Government Department responsible for the implementation of the forthcoming Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme, including sector engagement. As part of their day-to-day work, Northern Ireland Office Ministers continue to engage with a range of business and tourism sector organisations. Northern Ireland Office Ministers met with Tourism NI in January 2022, and the NI Tourism Alliance in March 2022. We are in correspondence with the NI Tourism Alliance regarding their request for a further meeting.

Department of Health and Social Care

Members: Correspondence

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, following the letter from Councillor Joanne Green dated 16 January 2023, if he will consider meeting with Manchester City Council Health Scrutiny Committee.

Will Quince: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Elective Recovery Taskforce

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2023 to Question 128703 on Elective Recovery Taskforce, for what reason his Department does not plan to publish agendas and minutes of the meetings of the Elective Recovery Taskforce.

Will Quince: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Antenatal Care

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to help ensure that every parent has access to free ante natal classes.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Nurses: Schools

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the number of school nurses.

Will Quince: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Cancer: Tomography

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the availability of the tracer dye used in PSMA PET scans; and if he will make an assessment of the impact of the level of availability of the tracer dye on cancer patients in (a) Greater Manchester, (b) the North West and (c) England.

Will Quince: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Community Nurses

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the number of district nurses.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Cervical Cancer: Screening

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the cervical cancer screening coverage in Slough.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Liver Diseases

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department's workforce strategy will make an assessment of trends in the rates of (a) alcohol related liver disease and (b) non-alcohol related fatty liver disease.

Neil O'Brien: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Diphtheria: Slough

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he had discussions with the Secretary of State for Home Affairs on taking steps to help tackle the potential risk of diptheria infection in Slough ahead of the Home Office's decision to place diptheria-positive people in Slough hotels; and whether he plans to take steps to help increase the rate of diptheria innoculations in Slough.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Members: Correspondence

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the the letter of 8 December 2022 from All-Party Parliamentary Groups on investment in the specialist workforce for children and young people.

Will Quince: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Dental Services: Private Sector

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dentist practices have gone private in each of the last five years.

Neil O'Brien: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Dental Services

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dentist practices there were in England in each of the last five years.

Neil O'Brien: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Hormone Replacement Therapy: Shortages

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) alleviate shortages of Hormone replacement therapy products and associated medicines and (b) support patients to access treatments.

Maria Caulfield: There are over 70 hormone replacement therapy (HRT) products available in the UK and while most remain in good supply, a range of factors including an increase in demand has led to supply issues with a limited number of products.We are working with suppliers and other stakeholders such as the NHS and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to maintain overall HRT supply to patients across the UK, including working to expedite resupply dates of the disrupted HRT products to resolve issues as soon as possible and to help fill supply gaps and prevent future shortages.Access to in-demand products has improved since we issued Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) on HRT products to limit dispensing to three months’ supply to even out distribution and allow alternative products to be dispensed, as necessary. 19 SSP’s for HRT products have been issued since April 2022, and a much smaller number of SSP’s remain in place as the supply position of several products affected by short term supply issues have been resolved.We regularly share communications about shortages and discontinuations with the NHS and have issued a number of communications about HRT supply issues to date. We continue to hold quarterly HRT roundtables with manufacturers, wholesalers, and community pharmacists to discuss the current and future supply of HRT. This is in addition to more regular meetings we hold with suppliers, on an individual basis, to identify and manage any issues.

Brain: Diseases

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the prevalence of mental health trusts excluding patients in need of community mental health care because they have organic brain disorders.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the prevalence of mental health trusts excluding patients in need of community mental health care because they have Huntington’s disease.

Maria Caulfield: No such assessment has been made. Access to NHS mental health services is based on clinical need, including for patients with Huntington’s disease and organic brain disorders.The NHS Long Term Plan commits an additional £2.3 billion a year for the expansion and transformation of mental health services in England by 2023/24 so that an additional two million people, including those with Huntington’s disease and organic brain disorders, can get the NHS-funded mental health support that they need.

Coronavirus: Screening

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many covid-19 tests his Department has procured in each of the last 12 months.

Maria Caulfield: We do not hold the data in the format requested.Between April 2020 and March 2022, circa 2.6 billion lateral flow tests were procured by the Department. It is not possible to provide data for after April 2022 at this time as it is not yet validated for release.PCR test kits are assembled in house.

Fertility: Health Services

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his timeline is for the programme of work to assess fertility provision across Integrated Care Boards.

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the objectives are of his Department's work to assess fertility provision across Integrated Care Boards.

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve local IVF provision.

Maria Caulfield: Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for funding decisions for health services in England, based on the clinical needs of their local population. We expect these organisations to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment across England.We will begin a programme of work to assess fertility provision across ICBs to scope the removal of non-clinical criteria in accessing treatment and to create greater transparency about the current offer of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) by ICBs. We will aim to complete this work by the end of 2023.In addition, we will improve access to IVF services by removing the additional financial burden on female same-sex couples accessing treatment, to take effect in 2023. We will also work with stakeholders to improve information provision on fertility and fertility treatments, including on the National Health Service website.

Employment Schemes: Disability

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department has spent on Individual Placement and Support in each of the last five financial years.

Maria Caulfield: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 18 January 2023 to 122463.

Mental Health: Departmental Coordination

Kim Leadbeater: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the Government is not proceeding with a dedicated cross-government plan for mental health.

Maria Caulfield: Increasing multimorbidity and complexity of conditions means it is important to ensure strategies are joined up, with care and support centred around people. A joined up Major Conditions Strategy instead of a standalone mental health strategy will ensure that mental ill-health is also considered alongside other physical health conditions, meaning the interactions between them are reflected in the resulting plans.Preventing mental ill-health, and better supporting those with it, will be part of the Strategy, as well as our separate standalone Suicide Prevention Strategy. We know that many of the risk factors that contribute to mental ill-health are cross-society in nature, and we will therefore be working closely with Departments across Government.

Long Covid: Key Workers

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to assist key workers affected by long covid who are threatened with losing their homes due to their condition.

Maria Caulfield: A range of financial and welfare support is available to support key workers affected by chronic healthcare conditions, including those experiencing post COVID-19 syndrome.Information on where to seek help and support is available on the GOV.UK website at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/find-help-and-support-if-you-have-long-covid

Medical treatments: Innovation

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the UK’s competitiveness as destination for clinical trials and R&D for development of new medicines; and if he will make assessment for the potential implications for his policies of a recent finding by the British Heart Foundation that up to half a million patients may not have been prescribed innovative blood pressure medicines.

Helen Whately: Clinical research has been central to the global response to COVID-19, and the United Kingdom’s response, achieved through research embedded within the National Health Service, has been singled out globally for its scale and speed. The number of trials in the Government-funded National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Clinical Research Network portfolio has increased to 6,383 in 2020-21. Commercially funded clinical trials initiated in the UK declined over 2020 and 2021. Through a Research Reset programme the Department, in partnership with NHS England, is taking action to recover the UK’s capacity to deliver clinical research.The diagnosis and management of high blood pressure which helps prevent cardiovascular disease is likely to have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The NHS’s priorities for 2023-24, set out in the NHS operational planning guidance, include an objective to increase the percentage of people with high blood pressure who are treated in line with clinical guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Eyesight: Health Services

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to help improve eye health in the UK.

Neil O'Brien: Health is a devolved matter. Access to regular sight tests is critical for eye health and early detection and access to treatments to prevent sight loss. In England, many people qualify for a free eye test and optical vouchers to contribute towards the cost of glasses, with over 12 million National Health Service sight tests provided in England in 2021/22.Diabetic Retinopathy screening is also offered annually to individuals aged 12 or over with diabetes and the Government has well established programmes on reducing smoking and obesity, both long terms risk factors for sight loss. Furthermore, the National Institute for Health and Care Research has invested over £100 million over the last five years to support research into diagnosis, prevention and treatment of eye conditions.NHS England’s transformation programme is also considering how eye care services should be commissioned for the future to improve access to care and patient outcomes.

Hospitals: Discharges

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS patients were waiting to be discharged from hospital in the (a) first week of January 2023 and (b) the same time period for each of the last 13 years.

Helen Whately: The COVID-19 acute daily discharge situation report (SitRep), established in April 2020, provides weekly information through winter on patient discharges. The table below shows the number of patients with no criteria to reside in hospital for the defined time periods: Time period (first week of the month)Number of patients in hospital who no longer meet the criteria to reside (daily average)January 202314,069January 202211,795January 20218,991 Prior to the pandemic, discharges were reported using the Delayed Transfers of Care (DTOC) dataset which is not directly comparable to the SitRep. This data can be found here: DTOC-England-Timeseries-February-2020-4W5PA.xls (live.com)

Liver Diseases: Diagnosis

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the efficacy of (a) transient elastography and (b) liver function blood tests in supporting the earlier detection of liver disease.

Helen Whately: No recent assessment has been made of the efficacy of (a) transient elastography and (b) liver function blood tests in supporting the earlier detection of liver disease.The Government recognises the importance of earlier detection of liver disease and from April 2022, NHS England introduced a Commissioning for Quality and Innovation scheme indicator to incentivise testing for cirrhosis or advanced liver fibrosis for alcohol-dependent in-patients in acute and mental health services.

Coronavirus: Protective Clothing

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the Government has made of the value for money of personal protective equipment procured under covid-19 emergency regulations.

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the Government has made of the value for money of personal protective equipment procured under covid-19 emergency regulations.

Neil O'Brien: Government Internal Audit Agency analysed prices paid for individual products across the personal protective equipment (PPE) supply chain including 12 contracts in detail and found that there was a proportionate control environment in place that balanced the need to urgently obtain PPE at scale and pace, with the need to secure value for money.As well as due diligence checks there was systematic price benchmarking. Prices were evaluated against the need for the product, the quantity available, the specification of the product and how quickly it could be delivered.  Many deals were rejected or renegotiated as initial prices offered were not acceptable.

Dentistry: Expenditure

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total spend was on NHS dentistry in England in each of the last five years.

Neil O'Brien: The total spend figures for National Health Service dentistry in England in each of the last five years are shown in the table below.Financial YearTotal Income from Patient Charges £’000Central FundingTotal Funding (central funding plus income from patient charges)*2017/18807,3332,004,2362,811,5692018/19856,3841,932,1102,788,4942019/20848,2922,109,9702,958,2622020/21277,6652,753,4443,031,1092021/22633,8472,423,1433,056,990 *These figures are drawn from the Department of Health and Social Care’s Annual Reports. The latest report is available at the following link (see page 246, Table 37):https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1132433/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-2022-web-accessible.pdf

Home Care Services: Fire Hazards

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what actions domiciliary care workers should take in the event of a fire at the home of someone they are providing care for; and what guidance the Government provides for those care workers in that scenario.

Helen Whately: The Care Certificate Standards are an identified set of standards that health and social care workers adhere to in their daily working life. Standard 13 refers to a care worker being able to promote fire safety by explaining how to prevent fires from starting or spreading and being able to describe what to do in the event of a fire.The Department does not provide guidance on fire safety but there is a range of advice available in the care sector.

Social Services: Minimum Wage

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent guidance his Department has provided to social care employers on pay; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of setting a national minimum pay rate for social care workers.

Helen Whately: The Department has not provided any guidance to social care employers on pay and has no current plans to set a specific minimum wage for care workers.

Smoking: Health education

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department and its agencies spent on anti-smoking campaigns in the 12 months prior to November (a) 2021 and (b) 2022.

Neil O'Brien: Responsibility for stop smoking campaigns transferred to the Department on 1 October 2021 as part of the formation of the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. We are unable to provide any information for work conducted by Public Health England.Expenditure by the Department on smoking cessation promotion for the period 1 October to 31 October 2021 was £165,000.Expenditure by the Department on smoking cessation promotion for the period 1 November 2021 to 31 October 2022 was £1,320,000.The figures reference expenditure for advertising on television, radio, national press, regional press, out of home (outdoor), social and digital advertising.All figures rounded to the nearest £10,000 and do not include VAT.Recruitment advertising and media partnerships are not included. Paid search is not included.Figures produced for financial year 2022/2023 are provisional due to the proximity to the end of the financial year.

Care Workers: Working Hours

Margaret Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that domiciliary care workers who work shifts longer than six hours receive a break during their shift.

Helen Whately: Workers are entitled to a minimum of 20 minutes’ rest break if they work at least six hours.Workers can call the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service helpline for free, impartial and confidential advice about their rights and entitlements.

St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust: Accident and Emergency Departments

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2022 to Question 110591 on St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust: Accident and Emergency Departments, whether these figures include attendance at St Helens Urgent Treatment Centre.

Will Quince: The response to Question 110591 includes attendances at St Helens Urgent Treatment Centre. Accident and emergency (A&E) quality indicators data is published at NHS trust level and includes Urgent Treatment Centre data as type three A&E services.

Life Expectancy

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Statement of 24 January 2023 on Government Action on Major Conditions and Diseases, HCWS514, and to the white paper entitled Levelling Up the United Kingdom, published on 2 February 2022, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the Major Conditions Strategy on the Government's policies for reducing the gap in healthy life expectancy between areas where it is highest and lowest.

Helen Whately: The Major Conditions Strategy will tackle conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England: cancers; cardiovascular disease, including stroke and diabetes; chronic respiratory diseases; dementia; mental ill health; and musculoskeletal conditions.Tackling them is critical to achieving our manifesto commitment of gaining five extra years of Healthy Life Expectancy by 2035, and our levelling up mission to narrow the gap in Healthy Life Expectancy by 2030.

Health

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Statement of 24 January 2023 on Government Action on Major Conditions and Diseases, HCWS514, and to the white paper entitled Levelling Up the United Kingdom, published on 2 February 2022, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the Major Conditions Strategy on the Government's policies for improving well-being in every area of the UK.

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Statement of 24 January 2023 on Government Action on Major Conditions and Diseases, HCWS514, and to the white paper entitled Levelling Up the United Kingdom, published on 2 February 2022, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the Major Conditions Strategy on the Government's policies for reducing the gap in healthy life expectancy between areas where it is highest and lowest.

Helen Whately: The Major Conditions Strategy will tackle conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England: cancers; cardiovascular disease, including stroke and diabetes; chronic respiratory diseases; dementia; mental ill health; and musculoskeletal conditions.Tackling them is critical to achieving our manifesto commitment of gaining five extra years of Healthy Life Expectancy by 2035, and our levelling up mission to narrow the gap in Healthy Life Expectancy by 2030.

Health Visitors

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to increase the number of health visitors.

Will Quince: It is the responsibility of local authority commissioners, working with their service provider, to determine health visitor numbers based upon local needs.

Nurses: Labour Turnover

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make a comparative assessment of the potential impact of differences in revalidation procedures in (a) Australia, (b) California and (c) the UK on retention rates for qualified nurses.

Will Quince: The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is responsible for nurse revalidation. Revalidation was introduced by the NMC in April 2016 and registrants are required to revalidate every three years. There is no evidence that the NMC’s revalidation process has had any impact on the retention of professionals on its register.The Department has no plans to carry out a comparative assessment of the potential impact of differences in revalidation procedures in Australia, California and the United Kingdom on retention rates for qualified nurses.

NHS and Social Services: Mental Health Services

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to announce levels of funding for staff wellbeing hubs for health and social care staff.

Will Quince: The staff mental health and wellbeing hubs were set up in October 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, using additional non-recurrent funding until 2022/23. A final decision is still to be made on the future funding of these hubs for 2023/24.

Ambulance Services: Mental Health Services

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to ensure there is adequate mental health support available to (a) emergency medical dispatchers and (b) all other staff who work in ambulance control rooms.

Will Quince: It is a priority to support the mental health and wellbeing of all National Health Service staff as they continue to work in challenging circumstances. The NHS People Plan, published in July 2020, has a strong focus on NHS staff health and wellbeing. This includes providing ongoing physical and mental health support, including targeting psychological support and treatment for those most affected; retaining staff who have come back into the NHS to help provide additional capacity; and strengthening the role for occupational health to move from a reactive service delivery model to a more integrated, preventative partner.

Ambulance Services: Slough

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for ambulance services in Slough constituency in the latest period for which data is available.

Will Quince: The information is not available in the format requested.

Hull Royal Infirmary: Death

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many excess deaths there were at Hull Royal Infirmary in each of the last six months; and what the causes of those deaths were.

Neil O'Brien: Data on excess deaths are not available by NHS Trust. It is likely that a combination of factors has contributed, including high flu prevalence, the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. We are taking steps to help reduce excess deaths, including those which involve COVID-19, and those due to other factors.

Obesity

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle obesity.

Neil O'Brien: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Rt hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford on 19 December 2022 to Question 109450.

Infant Foods: EU Law

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill on the (a) Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula (England) Regulations 2007, (b) Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula (Wales) Regulations 2020, (c) Foods for Specific Groups (Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 and (d) Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007; and if he will make a statement.

Neil O'Brien: Through the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, the Government is currently reviewing which retained European Union law should be repealed, reformed or preserved. The Government continues to work with a range of stakeholders to consider impacts and ensure that current standards in patient safety and public health are maintained.The Government continues to proactively engage the devolved governments at official and Ministerial level as part of this review.

Pharmacy

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to support community pharmacies with (a) growing patient demand and (b) rising operational costs.

Neil O'Brien: The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019-24 five-year deal commits £2.592 billion each year to the sector.In September 2022, we announced a one-off £100 million investment into pharmacy for the remainder of the five-year deal.The Energy Bills Discount Scheme is available to all business including community pharmacies.

Electronic Cigarettes: Health Education

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to discourage vaping.

Neil O'Brien: The Government supports smokers switching to vaping as they are substantially less harmful than smoking and one of the most effective tools to help adults quit smoking.However, we will continue to discourage vaping amongst people under 18. We have some of the strongest regulations in place including restricting sales to over 18s only, limiting nicotine content, refill bottle and tank sizes, labelling requirements and restrictions on advertising.

Mortality Rates: Males

Nick Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to issue a report explaining the underlying reasons for the level of excess deaths for 25 to 64-year old men in England between the start of the covid-19 pandemic and the end of 2022.

Neil O'Brien: The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has been reporting on excess mortality in England during the COVID-19 pandemic, via its Excess Mortality report, which is updated monthly. The report includes weekly estimates of excess deaths, including for men aged 25 to 64.OHID’s report estimates that there have been 19,293 excess deaths for men in this age group across the course of the pandemic in England (deaths registered between 21 March 2020 and 30 December 2022). During this period, deaths for men aged 25 to 49 have been 11% higher than expected and deaths for men aged 50-64 have been 18% higher than expected.The Department is closely monitoring figures on excess deaths and OHID will continue to update their monthly report. No additional reporting on excess deaths for men aged 25 to 64 is planned.It is likely that a combination of factors has contributed to excess deaths, including the ongoing challenges and impact of COVID-19, and health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

Obesity: Children

Jo Gideon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to halve child obesity by 2030; and what assessment he has made of the impact the postponing the introduction of the watershed of 9.00pm for television advertisements for food high in fat, salt and sugar will have on meeting that goal.

Neil O'Brien: New Regulations on out of home calorie labelling for food sold in large businesses, including restaurants, cafes and takeaways, came into force in April 2022. Regulations restricting the placement of products high in fat, salt or sugar came into force in October 2022. We are also working with the food industry to ensure it is easier for the public to make healthier choices and make further progress on reformulation.In addition, we are supporting more than three million children through the Healthy Foods Schemes and helping schools boost physical activity to help children maintain a healthy weight and good overall health through the Primary School Physical Education (PE) and Sport Premium and the School Games Organiser Network.A full impact assessment for advertising restrictions was published in June 2021 providing detail on the expected impact of the restrictions. We do not expect a short-term delay to the implementation to have a significant impact on the substantial benefits in the longer term.

Electronic Cigarettes: Seized Articles

Mark Pawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which non-compliant vape products were seized most frequently in the most recent period for which data is available; and what recent discussions the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has had with manufacturers of those products to help ensure that they are no longer supplied to the UK market.

Neil O'Brien: The Department does not collect information centrally on non-compliant vape products seized. Local enforcement agencies are responsible for taking action against non-compliant vape products that are placed on the UK market.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency work with manufacturers of vape products at the pre-market stage of notification. If necessary, they request corrective actions to bring each submission into compliance with notification requirements set out in the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016.

Vitamin D

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps raise awareness of the potential health benefits of vitamin D in local communities.

Neil O'Brien: Government advice on vitamin D is publicised via the NHS.uk website and the social marketing campaigns Start4Life, Better Health and Healthier Families. This includes messaging specifically aimed at people from ethnic minority groups with dark skin.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) has a guideline which focuses on increasing vitamin D supplement use to prevent deficiency among specific population groups. This includes recommendations for local authorities, NHS trusts, and voluntary and community organisations, as well as healthcare professionals.The Government’s Healthy Start scheme provides an opportunity for health professionals and others working with pregnant women and families to offer advice on issues such as healthy eating, breastfeeding, and vitamins. As part of the scheme, pregnant women, new mothers, and children can receive a supplement which contains vitamin D.Local areas may look to raise awareness amongst population groups in their communities, but Government does not collect information on these initiatives.

Pharmacy: Training

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to support the training of more pharmacists.

Neil O'Brien: The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) 2019-24 five-year deal outlines a joint vision for how community pharmacy will be more integrated into the NHS, deliver more clinical services and become the first port of call for minor illnesses, helping to reduce pressure on other parts of the NHS. Through the deal pharmacies have already introduced several new services, such as the New Medicines Service, enabling community pharmacies to provide extra support to patients newly prescribed certain medicines, and the Discharge Medicines Service, enabling hospitals to refer recently discharged patients to a community pharmacy for support with new medication. NHS111 and GPs can refer patients to a community pharmacist for a minor illness consultation and most pharmacies now also offer blood pressure checks. On 22 September last year, we announced the agreement for the remainder of the five-year deal, which includes a further one-off investment in the sector of £100 million. This agreement continues the expansion of the services offered by community pharmacies, by enabling community pharmacists to manage and initiate contraception, provide extra support for patients newly prescribed antidepressants and, enabling urgent and emergency care settings to refer patients to a community pharmacist for a minor illness consultation or for an urgent medicine supply.The number of trainee pharmacists is uncapped and driven by market forces. Since 2017, trainee numbers have averaged 2,500 a year. This has resulted in a year-on-year growth in the number of pharmacists on the professional register, which as of November 2022 (latest data), stands at 52,885 pharmacists in England across all settings. Health Education England is also working with Higher Education Institutions to implement reforms to pharmacists’ initial education and training, so they can play a greater role in providing clinical care to patients and the public, including prescribing medicines.

Dental Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of the reforms to the NHS dental contract announced in July 2022; and whether they have resulted in the completion of more Units of Dental Activity for NHS work per month.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there has been an increase or decrease in the number of dentists undertaking NHS work since the introduction of the reforms to the NHS dental contract announced in July 2022.

Neil O'Brien: No assessments have been made given that data for 2022/23 is not yet published.Further reforms are planned for this year, along with our commitment to publishing a workforce plan in 2023 that will include dental professionals.

Primary Health Care: Pharmacy

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increasing access to primary services at community pharmacies on public health.

Neil O'Brien: The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) 2019-24 five-year deal outlines a joint vision for how community pharmacy will be more integrated into the NHS, deliver more clinical services and become the first port of call for minor illnesses, helping to reduce pressure on other parts of the NHS. Through the deal pharmacies have already introduced several new services, such as the New Medicines Service, enabling community pharmacies to provide extra support to patients newly prescribed certain medicines, and the Discharge Medicines Service, enabling hospitals to refer recently discharged patients to a community pharmacy for support with new medication. NHS111 and GPs can refer patients to a community pharmacist for a minor illness consultation and most pharmacies now also offer blood pressure checks.On 22 September last year, we announced the agreement for the remainder of the five-year deal, which includes a further one-off investment in the sector of £100 million. This agreement continues the expansion of the services offered by community pharmacies, by enabling community pharmacists to manage and initiate contraception, provide extra support for patients newly prescribed antidepressants and, enabling urgent and emergency care settings to refer patients to a community pharmacist for a minor illness consultation or for an urgent medicine supply.The number of trainee pharmacists is uncapped and driven by market forces. Since 2017, trainee numbers have averaged 2,500 a year. This has resulted in a year-on-year growth in the number of pharmacists on the professional register, which as of November 2022 (latest data), stands at 52,885 pharmacists in England across all settings. Health Education England is also working with Higher Education Institutions to implement reforms to pharmacists’ initial education and training, so they can play a greater role in providing clinical care to patients and the public, including prescribing medicines.

Dental Services

Alec Shelbrooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled Our plan for patients, published on 22 September 2022, what steps his Department is taking to require dentists to update their NHS website profiles more frequently.

Neil O'Brien: In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care.We have taken action to implement these changes, including through amendments to the National Health Service dental contract introduced on 25 November 2022. It became a contractual responsibility for NHS dentists to keep their NHS.UK profiles up to date so that patients can find a dentist more easily. Practices are required to update their NHS.UK profiles at least once every 90 days, including information on whether they are accepting new patients.Commissioners will have access to a report showing which practices are non-compliant, with monitoring due to come into effect from end of March 2023.

Dental Services: Registration

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for how long on average members of the public have to wait to register for an NHS dentist in (a) England and Wales, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) Leeds.

Neil O'Brien: This information is not collected as patients are only registered with a dental practice for the course of their treatment.National Health Service dentists are required to update their NHS.UK profiles regularly to ensure patients have access to up-to-date information on where they can access care.In circumstances where a person is unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice, or where parents are unable to access an urgent dental appointment for their child, they are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance.

General Practitioners: Fees and Charges

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that (a) patients and (b) the parents of patients are not charged in instances where a GP must write letters to third parties about the health of a child.

Neil O'Brien: The medical evidence letters, certificates or reports that practices may not charge patients for these are set out in Schedule two of the General Medical Services Regulations and Schedule one of the Personal Medical Services Agreements Regulations.There are other medical evidence letters, certificates or reports that practices may charge for; these are set out in regulation 25 of the General Medical Services Regulations and regulation 19 of the Personal Medical Services Agreements Regulations. While there is no statutory limit to the level of such a fee, NHS England would expect the practice to charge a reasonable sum appropriate for the workload involved. The Professional Fees Committee of the British Medical Association publishes guidance for such services to help practices set their own fees. These are guidelines only, not recommendations, and a doctor is not obliged to charge the rates suggested. Where it is necessary for general practices to provide medical evidence and they can charge for that evidence, these charges should be clear, fair, and consistent.There are no plans to review the policy of which letters, certificates, or reports of medical evidence that general practices may or may not charge individuals for.

Dental Services: Warrington

Andy Carter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department has provided to increase the availability of NHS dental appointments in Warrington in the last 12 months.

Neil O'Brien: In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including in Warrington. These will increase access to NHS dentistry whilst making the NHS dental contract more attractive to dental practices.We have taken action to implement these changes, including through regulations that came into effect on 25th November 2022. The changes include a contractual requirement for NHS dentists to keep their NHS.UK profiles up to date, adherence to risk-based recall intervals, and enabling dentists to make better use of their team resources. The contractual changes of 28th December 2022 also provide for the commissioning of 110% of contracted Units of Dental Activities so that practices can deliver more NHS care, particularly in those areas where NHS dentistry is less prevalent.NHS England is holding further discussions with the British Dental Association and other stakeholders for additional reforms of the NHS Dental System planned to take place in 2023

Carbon Monoxide: Poisoning

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what training is given to GPs on the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Neil O'Brien: General Practitioners are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge, including on carbon monoxide, remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. This activity should include taking account of new research and developments in guidance, such as that produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to all patients.

Dentistry: Labour Turnover

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve retention of dentists in the NHS.

Neil O'Brien: Last year, NHS England negotiated amendments to the National Health Service dental contract with the British Dental Association and other stakeholders. These improvements, which came into effect in November 2022 and are supported by the sector, will ensure dentists are more fairly remunerated for the delivery of NHS care and making NHS dentistry a more attractive place to work and improve access for patients.Further reforms are planned in 2023.

Maternity Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's policy paper entitled The best start for life: a vision for the 1,001 critical days, published on 25 March 2021, what steps he is taking to help ensure that every parent receives ante natal and post natal support.

Neil O'Brien: The best start for life: a vision for the 1,001 critical set out the antenatal and postnatal care that families should receive, including from midwifery, health visiting, General Practice and other services. All pregnant women should receive safe, personalised care from a midwife throughout the antenatal, labour and birth and the postnatal periods. Universal health and wellbeing reviews should also be offered to all families, with additional care based on their needs.In addition, the Government announced around £300 million to fund a new three-year Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. This programme will deliver a step-change in outcomes for babies, children, parents, and carers in 75 local authorities with high levels of deprivation and poor health and educational outcomes.The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme guide outlines a minimum offer that all 75 eligible local authorities participating in the programme are expected to provide. This includes antenatal classes on infant feeding for all expectant parents, and postnatal perinatal mental health and parent infant relationship support.

Protective Clothing: Contracts

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on how many occasions his Department’s Anti-Fraud Unit has made use of its powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to recover funds lost through PPE fraud since March 2020.

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many PPE contracts were involved in his Department’s Anti-Fraud Unit’s recovery of £18 million in PPE fraud.

Will Quince: The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 has not been used to recover personal protective equipment (PPE) funds lost through fraud since March 2020. Four contracts were involved in the Department’s recovery of £18 million of PPE spend lost due to fraud.

Department of Health and Social Care: Correspondence

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to respond to Question 125459 of 17 January 2023 on Department of Health and Social Care: Correspondence.

Helen Whately: I refer the hon. Member the answer I gave to Question 125459.

Unispace Global: Contracts

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Unispace Global Ltd fulfilled its contractual obligations on all PPE contracts it was awarded prior to its novation to Sante Global LLP.

Will Quince: The Department contract with Unispace Global Ltd for gloves was not fulfilled prior to that contract being novated to Sante Global LLP. However, in July 2022, a settlement was reached and the contract has now performed.

Wales Office

Wales Office: Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps their Department takes to comply with section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992; and if they will make a statement.

David T C  Davies: The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales is not an employer in its own right. Our employment services are provided by the Ministry of Justice who comply with section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and share appropriate information with departmental trade unions on our behalf.

Wales Office: Conditions of Employment

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, if they will take steps to (a) publish an equality impact assessment and (b) consult with trade unions when proposing new HR policies for their Department; and if they will make a statement.

David T C  Davies: The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales is not an employer in its own right. Our employment services, including HR policies, are provided by the Ministry of Justice who ensure that equality impact assessments are published as appropriate and that relevant trade unions are consulted when proposing new HR policies.

Department for Education

Secure Accommodation

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on how many occasions secure accommodation for children has been requested and no place has been found in each year since 2010.

Claire Coutinho: Neither the department, the Secure Welfare Coordination Unit or the Ministry of Justice publishes data relating to the number of occasions a secure place was requested but not found.

Special Educational Needs: Staff

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to the letter dated 8 December 2022 from 16 All-Party Parliamentary Groups on the potential merits of investment in the specialist workforce for children and young people.

Claire Coutinho: I can confirm that a response has been sent to the hon. Member for Swansea West on 23 January.

Secure Accommodation

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children have been placed in secure children’s homes in each month in each of the last three years.

Claire Coutinho: As per the data published in the ‘Children accommodated in Secure Children’s Homes’ (SCHs) statistics release, a breakdown of the number of children that were accommodated in SCHs is provided below:165 children for the reporting year 2022142 children for the reporting year 2021184 children for the reporting year 2020Figures relate to the position on 31 March each year, except for 2020 when the reference date was changed to 29 February to reflect the position in secure children's homes before COVID-19 and the national lockdown.The figures include both secure welfare and justice placements. Children can be placed in secure children's homes either by local authorities or the Youth Custody Service (YCS). The YCS place vulnerable children when they are remanded to custody by the courts or are serving a custodial sentence. Local authorities place children when no other type of placement can keep them safe as they are a significant risk to themselves or others.A monthly breakdown of children placed in an SCH via the welfare route is not available. A monthly breakdown of the number of children admitted into secure homes who have been sentenced or remanded by a criminal court has been included in the attached table. 137957_table (xlsx, 22.6KB)

Special Educational Needs: Staff

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to the letter of 2 November 2022 from the SEND in The Specialists Coalition on the specialist workforce for children and young people.

Claire Coutinho: The department attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from Members of Parliament, stakeholders, and the public. It is important that organisations such as the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, the National Deaf Children’s Society, and others, share their experiences.The department knows that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities frequently require access to additional support from a broad specialist workforce across education, health, and care. As set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper, the department is taking steps to increase the capacity of the specialist workforce.The department is currently considering the feedback and will be publishing a full response to the Green Paper in an Improvement Plan early this year. A response to the letter of the 2 November will also be sent very shortly.

Office for Students

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to take steps to ensure that the Office for Students improves its engagement with providers.

Robert Halfon: The Office for Students (OfS) is responsible for its own approach to engagement with the higher education (HE) sector, and has an extensive provider engagement plan in place, which has recently been refreshed.The OfS recently commissioned an external report on its communications and engagement approach, which highlighted a number of positive findings, and on which the OfS will take action to further improve its approach. The report is available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/f86acfa2-5c6e-4e6e-9af5-40dada342862/ofs_provider-engagement-research-report.pdf.The OfS’s Chief Executive, Susan Lapworth, also set out publicly on 26 January 2023 how the OfS is refreshing its engagement with universities, colleges, and other HE providers.

Schools: Curriculum

Nick Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the statement made by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education, HL Deb 24 January 2022, vol 827, col 216 that her Department will send all schools a letter instructing them to show parents who request it the material their children are being taught, when she expects to send that letter.

Nick Gibb: The Department believes that the majority of schools use high quality, appropriate resources and engage with parents openly and transparently on what they plan to use.The Department has been made aware of cases where this may not be the case. The Department will write to all schools to clarify how materials can be shared to enable schools to engage with parents. The Department will provide a specific date for the publication of this letter shortly.

Office for Students

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with bodies representing the universities sector on the (a) effectiveness and (b) direction of the Office for Students in the period since 25 October 2022.

Robert Halfon: The department regularly engages with the higher education (HE) sector representative bodies, and a variety of individual HE providers, to understand the issues facing the sector and the impact of policy proposals. We have also engaged directly with sector representative groups since October 2022.Matters relating to the role of the Office for Students (OfS), as the independent regulator of the HE sector, are raised at those meetings.The department strongly supports the OfS’s ongoing work to ensure students get the high-quality, value for money HE that they have paid for.

Schools: Defibrillators

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that state schools in Solihull constituency have access to defibrillators.

Nick Gibb: On 20 January 2023, the Department announced that the first deliveries of defibrillators had taken place. More information on the announcement can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defibrillator-deliveries-begin-for-all-schools-that-need-one.The Department will ensure that all state-funded schools in England have access to a defibrillator. All eligible schools in Solihull are expected to receive a defibrillator by the end of the 2022/23 academic year. Schools will be contacted by the supplier, Lyreco, once their defibrillator has been dispatched.

Students: Loans

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to the consultation entitled Lifelong loan entitlement, published on 24 February 2022.

Robert Halfon: On 6 May 2022, the department concluded it’s consultation on the Lifelong Loan Entitlement, as part of the planned pathway to delivery from 2025. This consultation and other ongoing sector engagement is a critical part of delivering a transformation of student finance. We are carefully considering the contributions and will publish our response in due course.

Department for Education: Recruitment

Christine Jardine: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department spent on recruitment consultants in each of the last three years.

Nick Gibb: I refer the hon. Member for Edinburgh West to the answer I gave on 15 November 2022 to Question 76168.

Medicine: Higher Education

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has written to university vice-chancellors to request that they cap the number of medical school places on offer; and if her Department will take steps to work with the Department of Health and Social Care to help raise the cap on new medical students in England.

Robert Halfon: Medical and dental school places are capped to ensure teaching, learning and assessment standards are maintained as well as ensuring there are enough high quality placements for each student.The number of places available to study medicine and dentistry is regulated by the government. The Department for Health and Social Care, in consultation with Health Education England, is responsible for the setting of medical and dentistry caps.The cap on medical school places was temporarily lifted during the COVID-19 pandemic in both the 2020/21 and 2021/22 academic years. There will not be fewer government-funded places in 2023 as a result.I have written a letter to higher education Vice-Chancellors which referenced the cap on medical and dental school places and reminded them to remain within their five-year rolling medical and dentistry intake targets.Health Education England recently announced financial support for the new medical apprenticeship to increase numbers of doctors where they are needed most. This will make careers in medicine more accessible and will provide an alternative route into medicine to help deliver a diverse and sustainable workforce. There is now a complete apprentice pathway from entry to postgraduate advanced clinical practice.The government has committed to publishing a Long-Term Workforce Plan this year and this will include independently verified projections for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals that will be needed in 5, 10 and 15 years’ time, taking full account of improvements in retention and productivity. This plan will help ensure that we have the right numbers of staff, with the right skills to transform and deliver high quality services fit for the future.The department will continue to work with the Department for Health and Social Care to monitor current arrangements.

Children: Cancer

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of educational provision for children diagnosed with cancer.

Claire Coutinho: The department is committed to ensuring that pupils with medical conditions are properly supported at school, so that they have full access to education.In 2014, the department introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with all medical conditions, including cancer. Statutory guidance for schools on how to support pupils with medical conditions has been published and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.The guidance does not specify which medical conditions should be supported in schools. Instead, it focuses on how to meet the needs of each individual child and how their medical condition impacts school life.Schools also have duties under the Equality Act 2010, to make reasonable adjustments and not to discriminate against disabled children, including those with cancer from the point of diagnosis, in relation to their access to education and associated services. Schools must make reasonable adjustments to their practices, procedures, and policies, to ensure that they are not putting such children at a substantial disadvantage.Where a child cannot attend school due to health needs, and would not otherwise receive a suitable full-time education, the local authority is responsible for arranging provision under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996. Local authorities should ensure that a child receives “suitable education” in terms of their age, ability and aptitude, taking account of any special educational needs and keeping consistent with the provision that he or she would receive at their home school.

Childcare (Early Years Provision Free of Charge) (Extended Entitlement) Regulations 2016

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Retained EU Law Bill, whether she plans to (a) revoke, (b) retain or (c) replace the Childcare (Early Years Provision Free of Charge) (Extended Entitlement) Regulations 2016.

Claire Coutinho: The Childcare (Early Years Provision Free of Charge) (Extended Entitlement) Regulations 2016 were amended on 12 November 2021, to ensure that Swiss nationals and nationals from the European Economic Area (EEA) who have a pending application for leave to enter or remain in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme, or who have an outstanding appeal or applied late, are still eligible to apply for the 30 hours free early education entitlement. Parents with EEA or Swiss nationality who have indefinite leave to remain in the UK are also eligible to apply for 30 hours free early education entitlement.These regulations were consolidated in December 2022, as the Childcare (Free of Charge for Working Parents) (England) Regulations 2022. This can be accessed here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/1134/contents/made.

Out-of-School Education: East Sussex

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with East Sussex County Council on the Hope Sussex Community Hub.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for how long Ofsted has been investigating the Hope Sussex school.

Nick Gibb: It is an offence, under Section 96 of the Education and Skills Act 2008, for a person to conduct an independent school unless it is registered with the Department. Under Section 97 of the 2008 Act, Ofsted may inspect, without notice, any establishment suspected of operating as an unregistered independent school. Ofsted have made an attempt to inspect Hope Sussex Community Hub, based on a reasonable cause to believe that a suspected unregistered school was operating on the premises. Ofsted and the Department continue to monitor this case and will take further action as and when justified by available evidence. If evidence is found that shows an unregistered school is operating, the Department, Ofsted and the Crown Prosecution Service will consider whether prosecution is in the public interest.My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, remains committed to legislate in order to strengthen Ofsted’s powers with regard to its investigation of unregistered independent schools.

Alternative Education and Special Educational Needs

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department will publish the Government's response to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper consultation.

Claire Coutinho: The Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) green paper consultation closed on 22 July 2022. The department is currently reviewing the feedback received. We will use this feedback, along with continued engagement with the system to inform the next stage of delivering improvements for children, young people and their families.The department is committed to publishing a full response to the green paper in an Improvement Plan early this year.The department will continue to support the system in the immediate term to deliver change and continue to improve the experience and outcomes for children and young people with SEND and those who need AP.

Higher Education: Admissions

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students who received free school meals in secondary school are at each registered higher education provider.

Robert Halfon: The Office for Students (OfS) publishes counts and proportions of students that are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM)[1] as part of their ‘Size and shape of provision data dashboard’ which can be accessed here: https://officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/size-and-shape-of-provision-data-dashboard/data-dashboard/.In the 2020/21 academic year, 138,550 full-time undergraduate students were recorded as eligible for FSM.[1] The FSM measure is restricted to undergraduate students under 21 years at age of entry, who were found in the National Pupil Database Key Stage 4 data in 2009/10 or later.

Students: Loans

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the letter of 26 January 2023 sent by the Office for Students to accountable officers at registered higher education providers, which states that £10 million which had been set aside for preparation for the Lifelong Loan Entitlement is no longer needed for the purpose originally identified, what progress has been made on implementing the Lifelong Loan Entitlement.

Robert Halfon: The Lifelong Loan Entitlement (LLE) will be introduced from 2025. The government has already introduced key legislation as part of the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022.Building on these measures, on 1 February 2023 the government introduced the Lifelong Learning (Higher Education Fee Limits) Bill as a further step towards delivery of the LLE from 2025.As part of the pathway towards the LLE, we will stimulate the provision of high-quality higher technical education (Levels 4 and 5) and have introduced pilots to inform future flexible and modular provision. As of the start of the 2022/23 academic year, we are trialling loan-funded access to tuition fees for over 100 short courses at Levels 4 to 6 at 22 providers across England. This will help us build and test towards the LLE, and will allow students to study and build up the skills they need more flexibly.On 6 May 2022, the department concluded its consultation on the LLE, as part of the planned pathway to delivery from 2025. This consultation and other ongoing sector engagement is a critical part of delivering a transformation of student finance. We are carefully considering the contributions and will publish our response in due course.

Free Schools: Uniforms

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to provide advice to (a) free schools and (b) the parents and guardians of children attending free schools on whether they are subject to the statutory guidance on cost of school uniforms.

Nick Gibb: The Department provides regular updates to schools, including free schools, to remind them of their statutory obligations to ensure the cost of school uniform is reasonable and secures best value for money for parents.The Department has also provided information through the Education Hub to support parents and carers in understanding the statutory guidance on the cost of school uniform and what it means for their school.This information on the Education Hub can be found at: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2022/09/01/back-to-school-week-school-uniform-what-you-need-to-know/.

Ministry of Justice

Ministry of Justice: Liability

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's annual report and accounts for 2021-22, for what reason his Department has increased the contingent liability for injuries to staff, prisoners and the public.

Mike Freer: The contingent liabilities in question relate to HMPPS and are in respect of claims for injuries to staff, prisoners and the public but also third-party contract disputes and other legal claims brought against the agency, where the likelihood for a liability arising is deemed possible but unlikely.The increase in the value reported related to a specific legal challenge which does not relate to injuries.

Ministry of Justice: Equality

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the section on headquarters legal claims on page 206 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts for the 2021-22 financial year, how many outstanding legal claims brought under the Equality Act 2010 his Department was defending as of 1 February 2023; if he will make an estimate of the potential liability arising from those cases; and what contingency funds have been set aside for handling those cases in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24 financial years.

Mike Freer: The department does not analyse data according to the legislation cases are brought under.The MOJ does not hold ‘contingency funds’ for specific cases. However, as part of our financial planning and allocations process, we do consider funding for legal cases across the department.

Ministry of Justice: Employment Tribunals

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the section on employment tribunals on page 206 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts for the 2021-22 financial year, how many outstanding tribunal cases his Department was defending as of 1 February 2023; if he will make an estimate of the potential liability arising from those cases; and what contingency funds have been set aside for handling those cases in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24 financial years.

Mike Freer: As of 1 February 2023, the Ministry of Justice had 306 Employment Tribunal cases. This included cases involving the core department, His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, the Legal Aid Agency and the Office of the Public Guardian.The Ministry of Justice does not hold ‘contingency funds’ for specific cases. However, as part of our financial planning and allocations process, we do consider funding for legal cases across the department.

Probate: Wales

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on how many property sales were held up in England and Wales due to delays to probate decisions in 2021-22.

Mike Freer: This information is not held centrally.

Myanmar: Rohingya

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to raise the Burmese Military's actions towards the Rohingya at the international war crimes meeting at Lancaster House in March 2023.

Mike Freer: The Justice Ministers Conference in March 2023 is aimed at supporting the International Criminal Court in its efforts to seek accountability for the atrocities being committed in Ukraine. The meeting will bring countries together to discuss further practical support that can be provided to the ICC in areas including evidence gathering and coordination, and support for witnesses.The UK is clear that there must be accountability for the atrocities committed in Myanmar. We condemn the ongoing serious human rights violations by the Myanmar Armed Forces, as well as previous atrocities against the Rohingya. These actions require further scrutiny, and the UK is supportive of any attempts to bring these issues before the ICC. The UK has provided over £25m since 2017 for the Rohingya and other Muslim communities in Rakhine.

Prison Education Review: Expenditure

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the transparency data entitled Ministry of Justice: spend control data for April 2022 to June 2022, published on 30 September 2022, if he will breakdown how the £494,865,922 was spent on HMPPS Prison Education Framework.

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the expenditure of HM Prison and Probation Service's Prison Education Framework was in each year since 2010.

Damian Hinds: Information regarding the breakdown of expenditure on the HMPPS Prison Education Framework cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.The breakdown of expenditure for each financial year since 2019 is provided in the table below.Data before 2019 is not available, as education for prisons was managed through the Department for Education and funded by the Education, Skills and Funding Agency.The drop in spending on Education from April 2020-March 2022 was due to the impact of the Covid pandemic.YearPEF Contract Spend1 April 2019 – 31 March 2020121,909,902.251 April 2020 – 31 March 2021113,851,134.211 April 2021 – 31 March 2022105,456,204.721 April 2022 – 31 March 2023115,728,481.00

Reoffenders: Children

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the reoffending rate among children.

Damian Hinds: The Beating Crime Plan 2021 highlighted the importance of targeted interventions for those who have started to offend, in order to reduce crime. Turnaround is a youth early intervention programme, launched in December 2022, which provides additional grant funding to Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) across England and Wales for them to work with children who have, for example, received a caution for the first time, addressing the root causes of that offending.We have also recently launched the Youth Justice Sport Fund, funding voluntary and community sector organisations to carry out targeted work supporting children vulnerable to involvement in crime and violence, using sport to address problem behaviour.In addition to funding these early intervention programmes we are working to ensure children who are already in the justice system receive targeted support to access suitable education or training, safe accommodation, healthcare and substance misuse treatment, diverting them away from a life of crime. New key performance indicators for Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) will come into force in April 2023 and will include metrics to drive improvements in support for children upon release from custody.Later this year, we will launch a pilot of new powers in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. The pilot will allow us to trial changes to Youth Rehabilitation Orders with Intensive Supervision and Surveillance. These changes seek to give courts the confidence that children can be effectively supervised through a community sentence, which can be more effective in reducing reoffending than custody.

Remand in Custody: Children

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the changes made to detention and training orders in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 on the number of children in custody.

Damian Hinds: In April 2022, an Impact Assessment was made on the changes to Detention and Training Orders (DTOs) through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act. This included the estimated impacts on the number of children in custody. The Impact Assessment can be found on gov.uk: (Impact Assessment template (publishing.service.gov.uk).

Treasury

Tax Avoidance

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential number of people who could become bankrupt due to the Loan Charge and the use of section 684 discretion.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of individuals who may be declared bankrupt in connection with the Loan Charge, including the use of section 684 notices.

Victoria Atkins: No assessment has been made of the number of people who may be declared bankrupt as a result of debts arising from the use of a disguised remuneration avoidance scheme. Where debts arise, HMRC are not always the only creditor. Some individuals are declared bankrupt as a result of a non-HMRC debt and some individuals may choose to enter insolvency themselves based on their overall financial position. HMRC only ever considers insolvency as a last resort, and they encourage taxpayers to get in contact to agree the best way to settle their tax debts. To date, HMRC has not initiated insolvency proceedings against any taxpayer for a Loan Charge debt. Anyone who is worried about being able to pay what they owe should contact HMRC, who may be able to agree an instalment arrangement based on the individuals’ financial circumstances. There is no maximum length for these arrangements.

Multinational Companies: Taxation

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the calculations by which an estimate of £2.11bn of revenue in 2024-25 from implementation of the global minimum corporate tax reforms was arrived at.

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many multinational enterprises with global revenues in excess of 750 million euros per annum conduct business activities in the UK.

Victoria Atkins: The number of Multinational Enterprises which have headquarters in the UK is 387. The latest information can be found in https://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/corporate-tax-statistics-fourth-edition.pdf. The number of multinational enterprises which have operations in the UK, but are headquartered outside of the UK is 4,000. The process for estimating the Exchequer yield from implementation of Pillar 2 policy in the UK can be found in the Autumn Budget 2022: Policy Costings, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1118364/Autumn_Statement_2022_Policy_Costings_.pdf.

Taxation: Stratford-on-Avon

Matt Western: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people received a penalty from HMRC in Stratford-on-Avon constituency in 2022.

Victoria Atkins: We cannot provide a response on behavioural penalties by constituency, as different types of entities (businesses, partnerships and individuals) can have addresses that differ from where the business takes place.

Tax Avoidance

Jessica Morden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of the loan charge on the mental health of affected workers and contractors; and whether the Government plans to change its policy on the loan charge.

Victoria Atkins: The Loan Charge was independently reviewed by Lord Morse in 2019, who considered the impacts of the policy on individuals. The Government recognised the impact of the Loan Charge and accepted 19 of the 20 recommendations made by Lord Morse. These changes, such as removing loans made before 9 December 2010 from the scope of the Loan Charge, reduced the impact of the policy and removed aspects which were of wider concern. However, taxpayers can still face large tax bills which may have a significant impact. That is why HMRC puts support for those affected at the core of its work to collect the Loan Charge and bring cases to settlement. As well as the options available for managing tax bills, individuals affected by the Loan Charge are also supported by HMRC’s Extra Support teams. These are teams of specialist trained advisors who, where appropriate, signpost taxpayers to specialist Voluntary and Community organisations. To further strengthen the support offered to taxpayers, HMRC and Samaritans are currently working together to deliver an 18-month project.

Company Liquidations

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of companies subject to a creditor voluntary liquidation had HMRC as their main creditor in each of the last five years.

Victoria Atkins: The requested information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Around 10 per cent of all insolvencies that go ahead are petitioned by HMRC, but HMRC will not be the main or sole creditor in every case. Similarly, insolvency action may be led by third parties, where HMRC is the main creditor, but no estimate of these cases is available. HMRC only petitions for insolvency as a last resort after considering all alternative routes to recovery and engaging with taxpayers at every opportunity to encourage settlement of their tax debts before considering insolvency.

Car Allowances

Tim Farron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to regularly update mileage and fuel rates and allowances in line with the cost of using a vehicle for work.

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to review mileage allowance rates to reflect increases in the cost of (a) living and (b) fuel.

James Cartlidge: Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAPs) are used by employers for administrative ease as a means of reimbursing an employee’s expenses for business mileage in their private vehicle. Like all taxes and allowances, the Government keeps the AMAP rate under review.

Plastics: Recycling

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2023 to Question 119000 on Plastics: Taxation, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of recycled content in plastic that is overclaimed as a result of using the mass balance approach.

James Cartlidge: The mass balance approach for plastics follows a similar model to that used in other industries, such as biofuels. It is an industry-led certification scheme, with independent auditors to ensure compliance. Businesses are currently required to calculate the actual amount of recycled plastic in packaging, for the purposes of the Plastic Packaging Tax.

Treasury: Recruitment

Christine Jardine: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his department has spent on headhunters in each of the last three years.

James Cartlidge: HM Treasury does not hold information on head-hunters separately within its recruitment costs.

NHS: Workplace Pensions

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of inflation on the NHS pension scheme.

John Glen: The Social Security Pensions Act 1975, read with the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971, requires HMT to lay a yearly Order specifying the rates at which Public Service Pensions in payment, deferred pensions, and deferred lump sums will be uprated. The Public Service Pensions Act 2013 requires HMT to lay an Order each year specifying the rates at which the pension benefits accrued by active members of the public service career average schemes must be revalued. HM Treasury will make and lay the required Order before the end of the 2022/23 financial year. The impact of inflation on the NHS pension schemes is taken into account in the actuarial valuations of the scheme under Section 11 of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013. All public service pension schemes, including the NHS pension scheme in England and Wales, are currently undertaking valuations and the results will be published later this year.

Tax Avoidance: Social Media

Layla Moran: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many social media posts on the subject of tax avoidance were posted by HMRC in the last five years.

Victoria Atkins: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) does not hold this figure. However, in November 2020 HMRC launched the Tax Avoidance: Don’t Get Caught Out digital marketing campaign, warning the public of the risks of disguised remuneration marketed tax avoidance. Social media is used as part of the campaign to alert taxpayers to the risks of getting involved in tax avoidance.

Prime Minister

Intelligence and Security Committee

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Prime Minister, if he will bring forward proposals to update the Memorandum of Understanding between Government and the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament.

Rishi Sunak: The Government welcomes the independent and robust oversight of the Security and Intelligence Agencies and wider Intelligence Community that the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament provides.The role and remit of the Committee is set out in the Justice and Security Act 2013 and accompanying Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), agreed between the Committee and the Prime Minister. The current arrangements set out in the Act and related MoU are sufficient to enable the Committee to discharge its statutory function in respect of the oversight of the UK Intelligence Community. There are therefore no plans to update these arrangements.

Scotland Office

Scotland Office: Conditions of Employment

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if they will take steps to (a) publish an equality impact assessment and (b) consult with trade unions when proposing new HR policies for their Department; and if they will make a statement.

Mr Alister Jack: The Scotland Office does not employ any staff directly; all staff that join do so on an assignment, loan or secondment from other government bodies, principally the Ministry of Justice and the Scottish Government, who remain the employers. Staff working in the Scotland Office adhere to the HR policies of their parent department.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: Scotland

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether the Government has received written amendments from the Scottish Government on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill; and what discussions the Government has had with the Scottish Government on devolved legislative competence in relation to that Bill..

Mr Alister Jack: Following the Supreme Court judgement, I confirmed to the Deputy First Minister John Swinney that my officials, and those in the Office of the Advocate General for Scotland, were ready to engage further in relation to the work by the Scottish Government on amendments to bring their Bill within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.UKG officials have been looking at Scottish Government proposals which are intended to comply with the judgement.It has always been the responsibility of the Scottish Government to determine how they will comply with the requirements of the Supreme Court judgement. The Scottish Government have yet to formally set out how they plan to proceed.

Department for Work and Pensions

Department for Work and Pensions: Gender

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that data collected by his (a) Department and (b) Department’s associated arms-length bodies records biological sex as opposed to gender identity.

Mims Davies: There is no current data standard for biological sex, gender or gender identity. The Department for Work and Pensions has not made any independent assessment to ensure arms-length bodies record biological sex as opposed to gender identity.

Poisons: Testing

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential merits of automatic tests for (a) carbon monoxide and (b) other toxins for people who have died of unexplained causes.

Mims Davies: The Department for Work and Pensions has not held any discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on automatic tests as gas safety and, more broadly, carbon monoxide (CO) awareness is a cross government issue. There is a Cross-Government Group on Gas Safety and Carbon Monoxide, which has members from several government departments such as the UK Health Security Agency, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Health and Safety Executive. The Group ensures a joined-up approach to reduce carbon monoxide poisoning and improve gas safety, whilst maintaining an overview of incidents and trends, and publishing an Annual Report to explain the collective work of government.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of the women born in the 1950s affected by the increase in state pension age have died before reaching their state pension age since 31 December 2015.

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make a comparative assessment of the number and proportion of women affected by the increase in state pension age for women born in the 1950s who died before receiving their state pension (a) between1948 and 31 December 2015 and (b) since 31 December 2015; and whether there are statistically significant differences in those mortality rates.

Laura Trott: We have not undertaken the requested analysis and therefore do not hold the information you have requested.

Work and Health Programme: Disability

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding his Department has provided to the disability group of the work and health programme in each of the last five financial years.

Tom Pursglove: The department does not break down expenditure on the Work and Health Programme into these categories.

Employment Schemes: South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much Government funding was allocated to the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority to support the Working Win scheme in the financial year (i) 2020-21, (ii) 2021-22 and (iii) 2022-23.

Tom Pursglove: We have provided funding to deliver Health Lead Trials of IPS in Primary Care beginning in 2018 and ending in March 2023.Working Win branding was adopted by South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority to deliver their services. (a) Funding allocated for 2020-21 was £1,439,000;(b) Funding allocated for 2021-22 was £1,795,000;(c) Funding allocated for 2022-23 was £1,984,000*. *Please note funding for 2022-23 is based on year to date.

Employment Schemes: West Midlands Combined Authority

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding the Government allocated to the West Midlands Combined Authority to support the Thrive Into Work scheme in (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23.

Tom Pursglove: We have provided funding to deliver Health Lead Trials of IPS in Primary Care beginning in 2018 and ending in March 2023. Thrive into Work branding was adopted by West Midlands Combined Authority to deliver their services. (a) Funding allocated for 2020-21 was £1,693,000;(b) Funding allocated for 2021-22 was £2,441,000;(c) Funding allocated for 2022-23 was £645,000*. *Please note funding for 2022-23 is based on year to date.

Work and Health Programme

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding his Department has provided to the work and health programme for use with people who have a (a) mental health condition and (b) drug or alcohol addiction in each of the last five financial years.

Tom Pursglove: The department does not break down expenditure on the Work and Health Programme into these categories.

Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has guidance on additional measures to take when a recipient of (a) Personal Independence Payment and (b) Disability Living Allowance who his Department has identified as vulnerable does not return a re-assessment form.

Tom Pursglove: Please find attached the following sections of our Operational Instructions: Reassessment Case Worker ActionDLA non-return of claim packAttachment 1 (pdf, 512.2KB)Attachment 2 (pdf, 110.3KB)

Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department's guidance is on steps to take when a recipient of (a) Personal Independence Payment and (b) Disability Living Allowance does not return a re-assessment form.

Tom Pursglove: Please find attached the following sections of our Operational Instructions: Reassessment Case Worker ActionDLA non-return of claim packAttachment 2 (pdf, 512.2KB)Attachment 1 (pdf, 110.3KB)

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit and Personal Independence Payment: Long Covid

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to review (a) the overall financial support offered to, (b) eligibility for Personal Independence Payment of, and (c) eligibility for Industrial Injuries Disablement benefit of those with long covid.

Tom Pursglove: Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is intended to act as a contribution towards the extra costs that arise from needs related to a long-term health condition or disability. It is assessed on the basis of functional needs arising from a disability, or long term health condition, rather than diagnosis of a condition. The needs arising from long Covid are assessed in the same way as for all other health conditions or disabilities. We have no plans to review either the financial support offered to those receiving PIP, or the eligibility criteria as they apply to particular conditions. The department is advised by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), an independent scientific body, on changes to the list of occupational diseases for which Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit can be paid. Their report ‘COVID-19 and Occupational Impacts’ was published in November 2022 and recommended for health and social care workers, the addition of five serious pathological complications following COVID-19 infection to the list of prescribed diseases. The department is currently carrying out a detailed assessment of the report’s recommendations. Once this work is complete, the department will provide a formal response. IIAC considered that the evidence is not, at present, sufficient to recommend adding Long Covid to the list of prescribed diseases. IIAC will continue to investigate the occupational implications of COVID-19, including any post-infection associations.

Access to Work Programme

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of removing the need for an Access to Work renewal when support needs remain unchanged.

Tom Pursglove: My department is working to transform the Access to Work service to improve the customer experience and reduce bureaucracy by creating a modern, efficient and more digital service for disabled people. As you would expect, this work, which is ongoing, involves keeping all existing processes under review, including the renewal journey. This includes reflecting on lessons learned from the Covid 19 easements.

Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) Personal Independent Payment and (b) Disability Living Allowance claims were ended due to non-return of the re-assessment form in each year since 2015.

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) Personal Independent Payment and (b) Disability Living Allowance claims were ended due to non-return of the re-assessment form in each year since 2015, for recipients who his Department had identified as vulnerable.

Tom Pursglove: The information requested for both questions in relation to Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and on vulnerable claimants for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. There is no set definition of vulnerable claimants used by the department. Claimants with serious mental health, or cognitive conditions who have difficulty communicating or engaging with the process, are marked as Additional Support (AS). This group are not classed as vulnerable; however, the DWP recognises that safeguards are needed to prevent claims falling out of payment so these claimants will automatically progress to the provider for an assessment, whether they complete a review form or not, and will not be disallowed pre-assessment. Claimants who are identified or deemed as vulnerable, are annotated with an Additional Customer Support (ACS) marker which is applied as a ‘watermark’ on their PIP record. This group will include those who may be vulnerable due to their circumstances, not just their condition. Whilst some claimants will fit into both categories, and have both markers applied, claimants in this category would also be afforded additional sensitivity and protection at all stages of their claim, not just at the point of disallowance for failing to return a claim form. The table below shows the total number of PIP claimants disallowed due to non-return of the AR1 (Award Review 1) form, regardless of whether an AS marker is present. Table (a): Claimants disallowed by year for non-return of the AR1 form.  20172018201920202021Disallowed for non-return of AR1750015800141002540042100Source: PIP Atomic Data Store (ADS)Notes:This is unpublished data. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision;This data includes initial decisions only, and does not include mandatory reconsiderations or appeals;Figures are for England and Wales only;Figures include planned award reviews and unplanned change of circumstances;Figures are rounded to the nearest 100;Data before 2017 are unavailable due to changes in the way award reviews were recorded.

Access to Work Programme: Finance

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time was for Access to Work funding applications to be considered in (a) Warwick and Leamington constituency and (b) the UK in the latest period for which data is available.

Tom Pursglove: The information requested about Access to Work applications wait times for the Warwick and Leamington constituency is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Packaging: Recycling

Greg Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will hold further discussions with representatives of the food and drink industry to help ensure the creation of an end-to-end circular economy in packaging recycling.

Rebecca Pow: We continue our engagement with representatives of the food and drink industry, alongside others, in ensuring industry is prepared ahead of the EPR requirements coming into force. This includes a dedicated fortnightly Business Readiness Forum to update industry and answer questions plus a programme of webinars to deep-dive into specific issues and themes. Among the hundreds of stakeholders from the food and drink industry that have so far taken part in this engagement, and will continue to do so, are trade associations (and their members) such as the Food and Drink Federation, the British Soft Drinks Association and the British Retail Consortium. Additionally, we have initiated an eight-week visioning sprint programme incorporating over 75 representatives from across the different sectors impacted by EPR to work with us to create a vision for what an EPR scheme will look like in 10 years’ time with a view to creating an end-to-end circular economy in packaging and recycling.

Flood Control: Finance

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much of the £5.2 billion funding for flood defence measures announced in 2020 has been spent as of 31 January 2023; and which projects have been supported through that funding.

Rebecca Pow: The Government announced in March 2020 that the amount invested in flood and coastal erosion schemes would be doubled in England to £5.2 billion. By the end of March 2023, the Environment Agency currently estimates approximately £1.5 billion of this funding will have been invested. Official reporting of flood investment spend for 22/23 will follow. The latest official report can be found on https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/funding-for-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-management-in-england. A list of capital schemes protecting properties, completed between April 2021 and March 2022 is available from Asset Information and Maintenance Programme (data.gov.uk).

Chemicals: Regulation

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an extension of the transitional registration deadlines for the new UK REACH regime.

Rebecca Pow: An impact assessment was published alongside the public consultation on Extending the UK REACH Submission Deadlines, which ran from 5th July to 1st September 2022. This can be found on the DEFRA Citizen Space; the consultation response can be found on GOV.uk.

Animal Products: Imports

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department's publication Our Action Plan for Animal Welfare, published on 12 May 2021, whether it is still her Department's policy to review restrictions on the import of (a) fur, (b) foie gras and (c) hunting trophies from endangered animals.

Mark Spencer: The Action Plan for Animal Welfare outlined our intention to explore potential action on the import of animal fur. We have since conducted a Call for Evidence on the fur sector along with other forms of engagement with interested parties. We are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector. We are committed to building a clear evidence base to inform any potential future decisions relating to foie gras imports. The Government has pledged to ban the import of hunting trophies from thousands of species. We are committed to a ban that is among the strongest in the world and leads the way in protecting endangered animals. We are supporting the Private Member’s Bill led by the Honourable Member for Crawley that will deliver this.

Food: Standards

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what statutory assurances the Government has put in place to ensure that food standards will be maintained or enhanced following the passage of the Retained EU Law Bill.

Mark Spencer: Government is in the process of analysing and assessing retained EU law to determine what should be preserved as part of domestic law, and what should be repealed, or amended. This work will determine how we use the powers in the Bill. In reviewing retained EU law, HM Government’s aim is to ensure that food law is fit for purpose and the UK regulatory framework is appropriate and tailored to the needs of UK consumers and business. The UK has world leading standards of food safety and quality, backed by a rigorous legislative framework but it is only right that we should evaluate REUL to ensure it continues to meet our needs. While this is an opportunity for review, maintaining the UK’s high food standards remains our priority. HM Government remains committed to promoting robust food standards nationally and internationally, to protect consumer interests, facilitate international trade, and ensure that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy. More information on decisions with regard to individual pieces of retained EU law will be provided in due course.

Codes of Practice: Animal Welfare

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending the code of practices for the welfare of animals to include guidance on (a) invisible containment fence systems for livestock, (b) invisible containment fence systems for pets and (c) remote electronic training collars for dogs.

Mark Spencer: Defra’s codes of practice provide owners and keepers with information on how to meet the welfare needs of their animals, as required under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The codes of practice are kept under review and updated in line with legislative developments and changes in animal welfare practice.

Animal Products: Imports

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to allow Environmental Health Officers to conduct import inspections on products of animal origin.

Mark Spencer: Through the development of our future imports regime, we are exploring which qualifications and competencies are appropriate for performing checks on products of animal origin and will be working with Port Health Authorities to apply these.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps their Department takes to comply with section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992; and if they will make a statement.

Mark Spencer: There is a range of HR information which is published on GOV.UK and which is therefore publicly available.Defra has a Departmental Employee Relations Framework, agreed with its three recognised trade unions (PCS, Prospect and FDA), which sets out the principles under which the Department and the unions should conduct and build their rela-tionship. It aims to ensure appropriate negotiation, consultation and information sharing between managers and TU representatives is conducted in accordance with agreed principles and legislative requirements.This framework specifically references how the Department shares appropriate in-formation with the unions to allow for effective collective bargaining.In addition, Defra meets regularly with its recognised Trade Unions and presents and shares a range of information and data where it is appropriate and in line with privacy statements. This helps inform decision making through formal negotiation and meaningful consultation and engagement.Defra is therefore complying with section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Rela-tions (Consolidation) Act 1992 and we always seek to work constructively with trade unions to reach fair and reasonable settlements.

Water: Phosphates

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department's Environment Improvement Plan 2023, published on 31 January 2023, what assessment she has made of the impact of water recycling schemes on the (a) target of reducing phosphate levels by 80 per cent by 2038 and (b) control the release of antimicrobials into aquatic environments.

Rebecca Pow: Any water recycling option being considered by water companies in their draft statutory water resources management plans, must meet the environmental requirements for wastewater treatment discharges into the environment, including for phosphates or antimicrobial release. Water regulators, including the Environment Agency, will be responding to the consultations on the draft plans before the plans are referred to the Secretary of State later this year.

Sewage: Warwick and Leamington

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many sewage discharges were made into the (a) River Leam and (b) River Avon within Warwick and Leamington constituency in (i) 2021, (ii) 2022 and (iii) the period between September and December (A) 2021 and (B) 2022.

Rebecca Pow: The Environment Agency collates discharge data from Water and Sewerage Companies for storm overflows and for 2020 and 2021 the data is published here. The 2022 data will be published in March 2023.

Plastics: Landfill

Greg Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on the Resources on Waste Strategy ambition to reduce the amount of plastics ending up in landfills.

Dean Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to reduce single-use plastic waste.

Rebecca Pow: In October 2020 we legislated to prevent the incineration or landfilling of certain separately collected material, including plastic, paper, metal and glass, unless it has undergone a treatment process first and only if landfill or incineration is the best environmental outcome. This is in addition to existing permit conditions that already prevent acceptance of recyclable material at landfills and waste incinerators. We also want to make recycling easier. Following support at public consultation, the new s45 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 stipulates that all local authorities in England must make arrangements for a core set of materials to be collected for recycling from households, including plastic packaging. In April last year, we brought in the Plastic Packaging Tax. This will stimulate increased levels of recycling and collection of plastic waste. The introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility in 2024 will also encourage businesses to think carefully about how much plastic packaging they use, to design and use plastic packaging that is easily recyclable and encourage use of reusable and refillable packaging. These measures will reduce plastic waste and divert plastic packaging away from landfill and incineration. We have restricted the supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds and introduced a carrier bag charge which has reduced the use of single-use carrier bags in the main supermarkets by over 97%. More recently we announced the supply of single-use plastic plates, cutlery, balloon sticks and expanded and extruded polystyrene food and beverage containers will also be banned in England from October this year. We are committed to going further and addressing other sources of plastic pollution, which is why we also ran a call for evidence to help us gather information to help inform future policy on other problematic plastic items and help inform future policy making. Our response can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/single-use-plastic-banning-the-supply-of-commonly-littered-single-use-plastic-items/outcome/summary-of-responses-and-government-response.

Air Pollution: Standards

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing higher air quality targets on the concentration of PM2.5.

Rebecca Pow: The air quality targets Statutory Instrument was made on 31st January 2023 (available here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/96/contents/made). We have taken an evidence-led approach to set targets which are stretching, achievable and appropriate for our national circumstances.

Neonicotinoids

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policy of the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides advice against allowing the use of thiamethoxam.

Mark Spencer: In making the decision, the Minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries gave careful consideration to the advice provided by the Health and Safety Executive, the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides, Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser and Defra economists. He considered the identified risks and benefits in the light of the legal requirements for emergency authorisation and decided that there are special circumstances which made the limited and controlled emergency authorisation necessary because of a danger that cannot be contained by any other reasonable means.

Packaging: Recycling

Nigel Mills: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her cabinet colleagues in relation to concerns expressed by representatives of affected industries on (a) the potential impact on those industries of Extended Producer Responsibility (ERP) for packaging, (b) the additional costs of ERP for those industries and (c) how best to implement a transition to international best practice on EPR. including the appropriate timeframe.

Rebecca Pow: I have not engaged directly in cabinet discussions in relation to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging, however the Government Response to the consultation on packaging EPR was subject to Cabinet write round approval prior to publication in March 2022 and my officials continue to engage with officials in other government departments on policy implementation. Alongside the Government Response we published an Impact Assessment setting out the costs and benefits of the policy. We have published new guidance on ‘How to collect your packaging data for EPR’ for all UK organisations that will be affected by EPR for packaging and have also conducted several webinars to provide information to producers. The guidance will continue to be updated and we continue to work closely with industry to ensure they will be ready for EPR.

Pesticides

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to maintain existing restrictions on (a) neonicotinoids and (b) other harmful pesticides.

Mark Spencer: The Government supported and continues to support the existing restrictions on neonicotinoids.  We will continue to ensure that decisions on the use of pesticides are based on careful scientific assessment of the risks, with the aim of achieving a high level of protection for people and the environment.

Sugar Beet: Neonicotinoids

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact on the Government's decision permit the use of the banned pesticide thiamethoxam on sugar beet in England in 2023 on the health of (a) bees and (b) other wildlife.

Mark Spencer: In considering whether to allow the use of Cruiser SB on sugar beet crops this year, risks to the environment were assessed and weighed against the benefits of using Cruiser SB. On granting the authorisation, strict conditions have been attached to mitigate the impact of the treatment on bees and other wildlife. The main area in which potential concerns were flagged was the risk to bees from thiamethoxam taken up by crops planted in the same field after treated sugar beet. For this reason, a restriction has been imposed on such crops planted. Only a specific list of crops, none of which flower before harvest, are permitted to be planted within 32 months of treated sugar beet.

Packaging: Recycling

Nigel Mills: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (a) what conclusions she has drawn from recent engagement with representatives of affected industries on the implementation of international best-practice Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging and (b) which specific best practice principles she plans to implement when EPR is introduced in January 2024.

Rebecca Pow: We have considered the approach of many international Extended Producer Responsibility schemes for packaging and drawn on this experience in developing our proposals for the UK. We will continue to engage with obligated businesses as we prepare for implementation and as we develop the next phases of EPR. In doing so we will continue to keep abreast of international best practice and learn from industries experience of schemes in other countries.

Dogs: Animal Breeding

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help protect (a) dog owners and (b) dogs from unregulated breeding clinics.

Rebecca Pow: Under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (the 2018 Regulations), anyone in the business of breeding and selling dogs and/or who breeds three or more litters in a twelve-month period needs to hold a valid licence issued by their local authority. All dog breeders, including canine fertility clinics who do not meet the threshold for licensing under the 2018 Regulations, are obliged under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to protect their animals from suffering and provide for their welfare needs in line with best practice. A breach of these provisions may lead to imprisonment, a fine, or both.

Sugar Beet: Neonicotinoids

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what alternatives were considered prior to the Government's decision permit the use of the banned pesticide thiamethoxam on sugar beet in England in 2023.

Mark Spencer: One of the legal requirements for granting emergency authorisations is that there must be a danger which cannot be contained by any other reasonable means. In the case of the emergency authorisation for Cruiser SB, the “danger” is high levels of yellows viruses, which lead to severe yield losses. Before granting the emergency authorisation, alternative pesticides and non-pesticide approaches to were considered. It was concluded that these alternative control measures, even when used in combination, were not sufficient to address a dangerous level of virus threat. They were not, therefore, considered to be reasonable means of control.

Litter: Nitrous Oxide

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has taken recent steps to reduce litter caused by the recreational use of nitrous oxide canisters; and if she will make a statement.

Rebecca Pow: It is an offence to drop litter, and in recent years we have bolstered councils' powers to take enforcement action by almost doubling the upper fixed penalty limit for littering to £150. Furthermore, The Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 introduced powers, such as Public Space Protection Orders, which the police and local councils can use to prevent people from taking intoxicating substances, such as nitrous oxide, in specified areas.In September 2021, the Government asked the independent statutory advisory body, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), to provide advice on whether nitrous oxide should be controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. The ACMD is independent of Government and can provide a broad range of recommendations, including advice on regulatory or legislative changes. The Government will consider the ACMD advice carefully before deciding how to proceed.

Sugar Beet: Neonicotinoids

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department has issued to farmers to ensure potential harms to pollinators from the use of thiamethoxam pesticides for treatment of sugar beet crops are minimised.

Mark Spencer: Potential risks to pollinators were assessed as part of the process for considering the emergency authorisation for the thiamethoxam seed treatment Cruiser SB. Strict conditions were attached to the emergency authorisation which are designed to ensure that treated seed is used in a way that reduces these risks. These conditions include a maximum rate of application of Cruiser SB to the seed, maximum planting density of treated seed and only planting crops from a specific list, which excludes all crops that flower before harvest, within 32 months after planting the treated seed. We have increased these conditions. The conditions are legal requirements for those using treated seed. A stewardship scheme is in place which includes measures to inform growers, led by the British Beet Research Organisation. Officials from my Department and from the Health and Safety Executive will monitor the delivery of this information campaign.

Home Office

Immigration: Enforcement

Stuart C McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's announcement on 23 January of a cross-government ministerial task force on immigration enforcement, what the (a) nature, (b) composition and (c) remit of that task force is; and which agencies and teams across government are planned to collaborate with it.

Stuart C McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's announcement on 23 January of a cross-government ministerial task force on immigration enforcement, what steps she is taking to identify victims of labour exploitation during enforcement action; and what training is provided to staff on labour exploitation, human trafficking and exploitation that does not meet the modern slavery threshold.

Stuart C McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's announcement on 23 January of a cross-government ministerial task force on immigration enforcement, whether that task force will conduct joint investigations with labour market enforcement authorities.

Stuart C McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's announcement on 23 January of a cross-government ministerial task force on immigration enforcement, what resources she will dedicate to that task force; and how much the Government plans to spend on it each year.

Robert Jenrick: The increase in enforcement comes as the Home Office establishes the UK’s first cross-government ministerial taskforce on immigration enforcement, which will ensure every available power across government is utilised to support law enforcement activity to identify and reduce illegal migrants in the UK, and ensure only those eligible can work, receive benefits or access public services.The taskforce will go further and faster to prevent the abuse of our laws and borders and crack down on individuals exploiting the generosity of the UK taxpayer. Further information will be provided in due course.

Nitrous Oxide: Sales

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of restricting the sale of nitrous oxide canisters by suppliers to nominated businesses only; and if she will make a statement.

Chris Philp: Supply of nitrous oxide for legitimate medical and industrial purposes is lawful. Nitrous oxide has legitimate uses, such as in medicine, dentistry and as a propellant for whipped cream canisters.However, those who supply nitrous oxide knowing or reckless as to whether it is likely to be used for its psychoactive effect, are committing an offence under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016. This includes a maximum custodial sentence of seven years’ imprisonment.On 3 September 2021, the Government asked the independent statutory advisory body, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), to provide an updated assessment of the harms of nitrous oxide, including advice on whether it should be controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.The ACMD is independent of Government and can provide a broad range of recommendations, including advice on regulatory or legislative changes. The Government will consider the ACMD advice carefully before deciding how to proceed.

Cannabidiol

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 131103 on Cannabidiol and with reference to clause six of paragraph four of the Working Protocol between the Home Secretary and the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, published on 14 November 2011, for what reason her Department has not published a response within three months to the report entitled ACMD advice on consumer cannabidiol products, published on 17 December 2021; whether the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has been informed of these reasons; and whether her Department has given the Council a prospective date for a response.

Chris Philp: We are in the process of considering the findings of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) report on consumer cannabidiol products.This is a complex area of policy and the Government is giving close consideration to the recommendations before responding in due course. We regularly engage with the Council on the timescales for responding to their reports and any reasons for those.We will continue to work closely with the ACMD as policy is developed on the regulation of CBD products.

Undocumented Migrants: English Channel

Stuart C McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information is contained within the (a) Small Boats Enhanced Raw Data report and (b) Vantage Single Competent Authority Hybrid; and whether she plans to take steps to publish these documents.

Robert Jenrick: The Small Boats Enhanced Raw Data report and the Vantage Single Competent Authority Hybrid are the source datasets where information about small boat arrivals and National Referral Mechanism (NRM) referrals are brought together, any processing applied and totals calculated. They are then used as the source data for reporting, including publication of demographic and asylum outcome data for small boat arrivals as published in the ‘Irregular Migration to the UK release’.Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, as well as quality and availability of data.

Horse Racing: Roads

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what advice her Department provides to police forces to help tackle pony and trap racing on public highways.

Chris Philp: How the police carry out enforcement, exercise their powers and deploy their available resources on public highways are operational matters for Chief Officers.They will decide what the most effective response is to deal with pony and trap racing in the local area, and also to deter offenders and take preventative action.

Safer Streets Fund

Tom Hunt: What recent progress her Department has made on allocating Safer Streets funding.

Chris Philp: We have invested £120 million through four rounds of the Safer Streets fund supporting 270 projects helping to tackle Neighbourhood Crime, Anti-Social Behaviour and Violence Against Women and Girls.Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner has already received over £1m for three projects lead by Ipswich Borough council. This includes £499,588 in the current round to target anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls in the night-time economy.

Immigration Controls: Scotland

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the Government’s immigration policies on Scotland’s (a) population and (b) labour shortages.

Robert Jenrick: Our points-based system – with a wide range of eligible occupations spanning many economic sectors - works for the whole of the UK by welcoming people to fill skills gaps, support our public services and boost our economy.As noted in the Migration Advisory Committee annual report, immigration policy cannot be a complete solution to population movements within the UK or labour shortages. The Scottish Government has policy levers to address these issues more effectively.

Human Trafficking: Organised Crime

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on tackling people-smuggling gangs.

Robert Jenrick: Stopping small boat crossings is a priority for this government, unlike the benches opposite who have opposed every measure we’ve come forward with to tackle the gangs.We share information about criminality relating to small boat crossings between international agencies in particular with the French known as the Joint Intelligence Cell.Since the establishment in July 2020 of the Joint Intelligence Cell, 59 organised criminal groups involved in small boats crossings in France have been dismantled and nearly 400 arrests made in 2022.

Visas: Skilled Workers

Ben Everitt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve the Skilled Worker visa system.

Robert Jenrick: By embracing technology, we are delivering a streamlined, simplified and modern visa system.The system is working well, the Skilled Worker route is attracting the brightest and best, making a positive contribution to our economy.We have simplified the employer sponsorship process and by 2025 will have a fully digital end-to-end application system providing greater efficiency for our customers.

Nazi War Crimes

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the War Crimes Act 1991 at increasing the number of police investigations of suspected Nazi war criminals living in the UK.

Tom Tugendhat: In 1988 the Conservative Government set up the Hetherington inquiry, which led to the War Crimes Act 1991. This meant that for the first time, Nazi war criminals living in the UK could be prosecuted for war crimes.Counter Terrorism Policing do not have any current investigations relating to grave violations of the laws and customs of war committed on German-held territory during the Second World War.

Asylum

Mr Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum claims on the basis of modern slavery were made by migrants (a) from Albania, (b) from Eritrea and (c) in total who crossed the English Channel in small boats in 2022.

Robert Jenrick: The next quarterly statistics release on irregular migration to the UK, published on 23 February, will include data on modern slavery claims from small boats arrivals.New measures to strengthen our National Referral Mechanism against misuse came into force last week. New legislation will ensure we only support genuine victims; not those who seek to abuse our laws to stop their removal.In the first three quarters of 2022 (Jan to Sept) the number of NRM referrals for potential victims of modern slavery for certain nationalities were:3,432 Albanian897 EritreanIn the first two quarters of 2022 (Jan to June) based on FOI data obtained by Migrant Watch, there were 1,156 individuals who crossed the channel who made NRM referrals.

Undocumented Migrants: English Channel

Stephen Metcalfe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent migrants from illegally crossing the English Channel.

Suella Braverman: Small boats crossings perpetuated by evil people-smuggling gangs are illegal, life-threatening, and unnecessary.New legislation will make it crystal clear that if you enter this country illegally you will not be allowed to stay and will instead be detained and promptly removed.I am clear that the British public want us to stop the boats, and I call on Honourable Members opposite to back our proposals, instead of siding with criminal people smuggling gangs.

Crimes of Violence: Crime Prevention

Anna Firth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on reducing serious violent crime.

Chris Philp: Tackling serious violence is a priority for this government. Through our twin-track approach, combining tough enforcement with programmes that divert young people away from crime, we are driving down levels of violent crime. And I’m proud that since 2010, violence is down 37% under this Conservative Government.Since 2019, we have invested £340m in the areas most affected by violence, funding our ‘Grip’ hotspot policing programme and Violence Reduction Units to tackle the root causes of serious violence.In their first three years of funded delivery, these programmes have collectively prevented an estimated 136,000 violence without injury offences.

Asylum: Missing Persons

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) adult and (b) children asylum seekers that were accommodated via the Home Office are missing.

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to improve safeguarding at Home Office-run accommodation.

Robert Jenrick: The safety and wellbeing of asylum seekers in our care is of paramount importance to the Home Office. We expect high standards from all of our providers, and we have a robust governance framework in place to manage service delivery of the Asylum Accommodation Support Contracts (AASC). Details of the AASC can be found at:New asylum accommodation contracts awarded - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab). Robust compliance and governance protocols exist to ensure daily engagement is undertaken with our service providers by Home Office officials to ensure and assure that the providers’ operational delivery and overall performance consistently meet the required standards. If any issues are identified providers are required to take immediate action to address and recover accordingly. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in hotels are as safe and supported as possible as we seek urgent placements with a local authority. Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses. Local authorities have a statutory duty to protect all children, regardless of where they go missing from. In the concerning occasion when any child goes missing, regardless of their status, they work closely with other local agencies, including the police, to urgently establish their whereabouts and ensure they are safe.The Home Office does not hold data for the number of adult and children asylum seekers that were accommodated via the Home Office that are missing in a reportable format and it would require a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost. As of 26 January 2023, there are 199 young people missing from Home Office UASC hotels. Please be advised that some of these people are now over 18, but they are included in the figures as they were a child when they went missing. Of the 199 young people that are currently missing, 185 of them were 16 or older at the time they went missing.

MI5: Privacy

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal’s judgement that there were very serious failings at the highest levels of MI5 to comply with privacy safeguards.

Tom Tugendhat: I refer the Hon Member to the Home Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement of 30 January.

Dinitrophenol

Mr Robin Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any legitimate uses of 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) were identified during her Department's consultation on adding DNP to the poisons list.

Tom Tugendhat: Between December 2021 – March 2022, the Home Office ran a public consultation on potential amendments to the Poisons Act 1972. The consultation proposed a number of measures, including a proposal to add 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) and its derivatives including sodium dinitrophenolate as a regulated poison under the Act. Responses were submitted through an online survey on gov.uk, by email and by post.In total 128 responses were collected in the consultation. Of these responses, zero responses were received indicating the use of 2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP) or derivatives including sodium dinitrophenolate. As no responses were received indicating members of the public were using DNP for legitimate purposes, it was considered proportionate to proceed with regulating DNP as a poison under the Poisons Act.The Government response to the public consultation can be found at Annex A of the Impact Assessment for the Control of Explosives Precursors and Poisons Regulations 2023, available online here: The Control of Explosives Precursors and Poisons Regulations 2023 (legislation.gov.uk).

Chemicals and Poisons: Bombs

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to increase controls of (a) poisons and (b) chemicals that can be used to create explosive devices.

Tom Tugendhat: On 23rd January, the Home Office laid the Control of Explosives Precursors and Poisons Regulations 2023 to further tighten the controls in place for explosives precursors and poisons to prevent the illicit use of these substances. These regulations add to the existing framework put in place by the Poisons Act 1972 which sets out controls of explosives precursors and poisons in Great Britain, permitting a licensing regime for the purchase and use of regulated substances where there is a legitimate need and no safer alternative.The Control of Explosives Precursors and Poisons Regulations will come into force on 1st October 2023, and follow a public consultation on the subject which ran between December 2021 and March 2022.These regulations include additional measures designed to strengthen the existing suspicious activity reporting regime under the Poisons Act 1972, in addition to implementing new obligations on online marketplaces to report suspicious activity on their platforms. New substances are also being added to the lists of reportable and regulated precursors and poisons to prevent access to materials of the highest concern for illicit purposes, while also maintaining access for legitimate purposes. Furthermore, additional obligations will be placed on businesses to ensure that information about restricted substances is passed along the supply chain, and to ensure that workers selling regulated and reportable substances understand their obligations under the Act.The regulations, explanatory memorandum and impact assessment have been laid in both houses and are available online here: The Control of Explosives Precursors and Poisons Regulations 2023 (legislation.gov.uk)

Appropriate Adults

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) the potential impact on the training of appropriate adults of the National standards for the development and provision of appropriate adult schemes in England and Wales.

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has taken recent steps to (a) fund and (b) conduct research on the detention of children in police custody.

Chris Philp: The Home Office part funds the National Association of Appropriate Adults (NAAN), which supports organisations providing appropriate adult services to young people and vulnerable adults in police custody. More information regarding standards and training can be found at https://www.appropriateadult.org.uk/. We regularly engage with the NAAN to discuss the provision of training to Appropriate Adults across England and Wales.There is ongoing academic research on the detention and questioning of children and young people being carried out by the Nuffield Foundation. We await the final recommendations from this report. The Government maintains that children should only be detained in custody as a last resort and any opportunities to divert children away from custody should be taken. Detailed police custody data was published for the first time on 17 November 2022 in the Police Powers and Procedures Bulletin. This data provides more transparency on children in custody.At this stage it does not include data on looked after children. However, we recognise specific concerns around children in custody who are recognised as a vulnerable group. We published the Concordat on Children in Custody in 2017 which clearly sets out the statutory duties of the police and local authorities and provides a protocol for how transfers of children from custody to local authority accommodation should work in practice.The Government is clear that children should only be detained in custody when absolutely necessary and where there are opportunities to divert children away from custody, these must be considered.

Children in Care: Police Custody

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of looked after children who were detained in police custody in each of the last five years.

Chris Philp: The Home Office does not hold the information requested.For the first time, the Home Office collected and published information on the number of people detained in police custody, including children, as part of the ‘Police, Powers and Procedures: Other PACE, year ending March 2022’ bulletin.The Home Office does not receive information about the status of children detained in custody.

Police: Powers

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department next plans to publish the statistics entitled Police Powers and Procedures: Other PACE powers, last published on 17 November 2022.

Chris Philp: The Home Office publishes the statistical bulletin ‘Police Powers and Procedures: Other PACE powers’ on an annual basis.The next publication, which will include data up to March 2023, will be published in November/ December 2023.

Asylum: Stockton on Tees

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has a contract with the owner of Hanover Point in Stockton on Tees to house asylum seekers and refugees.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation and other support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered. For several years, record numbers of people cross the Channel in small boats, and this surge has placed the Home Office’s asylum support infrastructure and accommodation services under immense pressure. The use of hotels is a short-term solution and we are working hard with Local Authorities and our accommodation providers to find more appropriate accommodation.For safeguarding purposes, we do not publicly comment on individual sites which may or may not be utilised. When a site becomes available and meets the requirements of our accommodation contract, we will follow our engagement process and notify the local MP as well as local authority officials in advance of using the location.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Housing: Standards

Taiwo Owatemi: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to consolidate housing standards legislation to help support enforcement by housing officers.

Dehenna Davison: The Government is taking a variety of steps to update relevant legislation through a variety of legislative vehicles.

Social Rented Housing: Standards

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to improve the quality of social housing.

Dehenna Davison: In the Levelling Up White Paper the Government set out its ambition to reduce the number of non-decent rented homes by 50% by 2030 with the biggest improvements in the lowest performing areas. In the Charter for Social Housing Residents the Government committed to a range of measures to drive up the quality of social housing, including through the introduction of a new, proactive consumer regulation regime and a review the Decent Home Standard. The Secretary of State also recently announced £30 million which will be divided equally between Greater Manchester and West Midlands and is to improve the physical decency of social housing. It will be targeted at homes with serious (category 1) hazards, including homes where damp and mould is a threat to health.

Social Rented Housing: Newcastle upon Tyne

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to 53.4 percent of people renting from Newcastle City Council in Elswick South from 2021 ONS census data, what steps his department is taking to support local authorities with social housing stock in Newcastle Upon Tyne Central constituency.

Dehenna Davison: It is for councils to decide how best to balance expenditure on delivering new homes and maintaining their existing housing.We recognise that local authorities are facing increasing pressures on their social housing stock. To support new social housing supply, councils are able to apply to the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme.

Parks Action Group

Kim Leadbeater: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January to Question 126656 on Parks, for what reason the Park Action Group has not met since 2019; when it is scheduled to meet; and if he will publish the membership of the Group.

Dehenna Davison: As per my answer of 26 January 2023, the Government recognises that parks and green spaces are vital to communities and the people they serve, which is why the £9 million Levelling Up Parks Fund (LUPF) announced in August 2021 as part of the Levelling Up agenda will help to increase accessibility to quality green space across the UK, and level up areas which are most deprived of green space and provide communities with a place to come together.The department continues to engage with relevant stakeholders.The membership of the Park Action Group were: Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), Department for Education (DfE), Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Home Office (HO), Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Association of Public Service Excellence (APSE), Fields in Trust, Local Government Association (LGA), Parks Alliance, Natural England, National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces (NFPGS), Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), Groundwork, National Trust, Keep Britain Tidy, National Association of Local Councils (NALC), Parks Practitioner, Public Health England and Sport England.

Levelling Up Fund

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will (a) publish a list of local and combined authorities that have received full written feedback on their unsuccessful bids to Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund and (b) provide a timescale for when South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority will receive their full written feedback.

Dehenna Davison: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 129836 on 26 January 2023, and will provide further updates once written feedback has been provided.

Buildings: Battersea

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 127898 on Buildings: Battersea, if he will list the names of the nine residential buildings where remediation work has started or been completed.

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 127898 on Buildings: Battersea, if he will list the names of the nine residential buildings where remediation work has not started or been completed.

Lee Rowley: The Government does not publish a list naming individual high-rise residential buildings in Battersea or elsewhere that have been identified as having unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding, or have been deemed eligible for the Building Safety Fund due to the presence of unsafe non-ACM cladding.This reflects the position of the Government not to reveal the identity of high-rise residential buildings with unsafe cladding systems on public safety grounds.

Private Rented Housing

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to increase the number of private properties available to rent; and if he will make a statement.

Felicity Buchan: The Government has announced £10 billion investment in housing supply since the start of this Parliament. This includes £300 million of locally led grant funding to help Local and Mayoral Combined Authorities invest in housing-led brownfield, infrastructure, and land projects in England.We also welcome new institutional investment in the private rented sector, and our Build to Rent Fund has provided over £630 million of development finance for the supply of new homes built specifically for private rent.

Refugees: Ukraine

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make a comparative assessment of the risk of homelessness in Ukrainian refugees who are hosted as part of (a) larger than average and (b) smaller than average family groups within the same household.

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will publish a breakdown of the number of Ukrainian refugees hosted by each household under (a) the Homes for Ukraine scheme and (b) the Ukraine Family Scheme in the last (i) three months, (ii) six months and (iii) since those schemes began.

Felicity Buchan: Data on the number of visa applications, issued and arrivals in to the UK by sponsor location for Ukrainian refugees and at a local authority level can be accessed here.Data on the number of Ukrainian households, including single households and those with children, who have been owed a statutory homelessness duty is published here.The Ukraine Family Scheme data is owned by Home Office.

Repairs and Maintenance: Fuels

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring installers of appliances powered by (a) coal, (b) wood and (c) other carbon-based fuels to be registered in the same way as gas appliance installers.

Lee Rowley: The safe installation of fixed combustion appliances, irrespective of fuel used, is controlled by the Building Regulations, and must meet the relevant requirements of these regulations. Installation must be carried out by installers registered with a government authorised competent person scheme or notified to the local authority.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Africa: Development Aid

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of UK overseas aid funding is distributed to each Commonwealth country in Africa.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Table 1 below provides the volume and proportion of UK bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) provided for the benefit of each Commonwealth country in Africa in 2021, the latest year for which data is published. Bilateral ODA is aid that has been earmarked, usually for specific countries, regions, or programmes.The UK also spends ODA in the form of unearmarked contributions to multilateral organisations and bilaterally to programmes which benefit multiple countries/regions, some of which may also benefit Commonwealth countries in Africa.Table 1: Volume and proportion of UK bilateral ODA provided for the benefit of Commonwealth countries in Africa, 2021Commonwealth Countries in Africa2021 Bilateral ODA(£ thousand)% of UK Bilateral ODABotswana2,3560.14%Cameroon8,0300.47%Eswatini3990.02%Gabon-0.00%Gambia17,9911.04%Ghana25,0021.45%Kenya71,9934.17%Lesotho8990.05%Malawi42,2982.45%Mauritius8920.05%Mozambique37,4932.171%Namibia1,4490.08%Nigeria140,1468.12%Rwanda34,9462.02%Sierra Leone50,0482.90%South Africa102,2515.92%Tanzania60,6053.51%Togo-0.00%Uganda64,3523.73%Zambia27,9211.62%Source: Statistics on International Development

Democratic Republic of Congo: Crimes against Humanity

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment the Mass Atrocity Prevention Hub has made of the potential risk of atrocities occurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo against (a) ethnic and (b) linguistic communities in the next three months; and if he will provide a list of the armed groups that have been identified as posing a significant risk.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The protection of civilians in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is of the utmost importance to the UK. Regular local conflict analyses are conducted in DRC which identify localised drivers and triggers of conflict. These are an essential foundation for all programmatic response to conflict in DRC. In 2022, a Jo Cox Memorial Grant was used to fund research into current atrocity prevention efforts in DRC. This showed how identity-based violence and mass atrocities might be better integrated into local early warning and early response mechanisms. The Office for Conflict, Stabilisation and Mediation (OCSM) is trialling an atrocity risk assessment process, which has flagged DRC as having a high risk of mass atrocities.

Development Aid

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to point 49 on page 29 of his Department's policy paper entitled UK government's strategy for international development, CP 676, published on 16 May 2022, what is meant by locally owned; and whether his Department has taken recent steps to implement locally owned policies.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Local ownership of development means that design, decision-making and delivery should involve local partners, who understand the context of the challenges to be addressed. The FCDO prioritises strong partnerships with national and local organisations to boost impact and sustainability, building on our commitments to the 2011 Busan Partnership and the 2016 Grand Bargain.For example, the FCDO has sought where possible to localise our response to the crisis in Ukraine, working closely with the Ukrainian government.Our multi-year Shifting the Power partnership with Comic Relief aims to strengthen local civil society organisations, and enable local people to make funding decisions.

Somaliland: Police

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when the Government first allocated funding to support Somaliland's police Rapid Reaction Unit; and how much that funding was until it ended in March 2020.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK has supported security and justice sector reform in Somaliland since 2011. This has included work to improve the effectiveness of the judiciary and prosecutors, the police, coastguard and army, in compliance with international law, and in line with international human rights standards. UK funding for Somaliland's Police Rapid Reaction Unit ended in March 2020. Our efforts to improve Somaliland's security sector now focus on support for the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) of the Somaliland Police, which has successfully established a state-of-the-art investigation and detentions facility. The CTU has also achieved significant operational successes, including the prosecution of high-interest terrorism cases.

Development Aid

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to page six of his Department's policy paper entitled UK government's strategy for international development, CP 676, published on 16 May 2022, what is meant by stripping back excessive bureaucracy; and whether his Department has taken recent steps to implement this policy.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The Strategy for International Development commits FCDO to driving down bureaucracy, making it quicker to get programmes delivering on the ground. We have developed a plan to guide this work, consulting Non-Executive Directors and delivery partners on what we need to improve.We have already implemented a number of measures including: speeding-up FCDO's programme approval process; introducing central Due Diligence Assessments with selected NGO partners; and streamlining programme documentation.Future steps include: improving the grants process through a streamlined grant template for NGOs; and continuing to build the capability and professionalism of our senior responsible owners and programme teams.

Pacific Islands: Climate Change

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with Pacific Island nations on climate mitigation support.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: During the United Nations General Assembly week in September 2022, the Foreign Secretary met with the Government representatives of Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu as part of a 'Partners in the Blue Pacific' meeting. The Minister for Asia, Lord Goldsmith, also met with the Prime Minister of Samoa.The Prime Minister also met the President of Vanuatu at COP27 and I discussed climate change with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Vanuatu and with Pacific Ministers at the Pacific Community conference, during my visit to Port Vila, November 2022.

Developing Countries: Floods

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to provide (a) short term aid, (b) flood defences and (c) other preventative measures to countries affected by flooding.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The FCDO supports the multilateral system which regularly responds to flooding around the world. For example, we have recently provided £36 million of aid to the flood relief efforts in Pakistan, and we are longstanding partners of the UN Central emergency Response Fund (CERF), contributing more than $1.7 billion since 2006 and supporting their work including in response to flooding. The UK has also recently announced a commitment to triple our spend on climate adaptation finance, from £500 million in 2019 to £1.5 billion in 2025. This funding will help countries build their resilience to climate change impacts, including floods.

Cabinet Office

Covid-19 Inquiry

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent discussions he has had with the chair of the covid-19 public inquiry on the progress of that inquiry.

Alex Burghart: The Cabinet Office, as sponsor department, has supported the Covid Inquiry with its practical set up. Under the Inquiries Act, the process, procedure and timing of the inquiry’s stages are matters for the independent inquiry Chair. Progress is well underway and details relating to the Inquiry’s planned and current work are available on the Covid-19 Inquiry’s website.

Ministers: Codes of Practice

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the level of compliance with the Ministerial code.

Jeremy Quin: The Prime Minister expects all Ministers to act in accordance with the Code and demonstrate integrity, professionalism and accountability. He has appointed Sir Laurie Magnus as the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests to advise on matters relating to the Code.

Greensill

Nick Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason his Department has not agreed to the Second Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office, Sue Gray, from serving as a witness in the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s investigation into the lobbying and access affair involving Greensill Capital in July 2021.

Jeremy Quin: It is the Government’s longstanding position, as set out in the Osmotherly Rules, that officials do not attend Committees in their own capacity, but as representatives of their Ministers. It is therefore open for Ministers to decide to attend instead. In this instance, successive Cabinet Office Ministers declined the invitation for Ms Gray to appear before the Committee and in so doing offered to attend instead to answer any questions the Committee might have had on this subject.

Cabinet Office: Public Opinion

Mr David Davis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Minister or official authorised the Rapid Response Unit to collect of data related to public statements, social media and internet activity as part of that unit's work.

Jeremy Quin: The Rapid Response Unit was launched, initially as a six-month pilot in April 2018; its formation having received approval at Ministerial level in January 2018. During the pandemic, the Cabinet Office expanded the team to monitor disinformation about Covid. The Rapid Response Unit used only publicly available data, including material shared on social media platforms, to assess UK disinformation trends and narratives.

Import Controls

Dan Carden: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the Government's timeframe is for the introduction of the Target Operating Model for import controls.

Jeremy Quin: The Government intends to make an announcement on this soon.

Corruption

Dan Carden: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment has he made of the implications for his policies of the UK's most recent ranking in Transparency International’s global Corruption Perceptions Index.

Jeremy Quin: The UK has robust safeguards to protect our institutions from corruption and we are determined to ensure transparency and accountability is embedded at all levels of government. The UK continues to be perceived as very low for corruption in comparison with the wider international community.We have some of the strongest controls in the world to combat money laundering and illicit finance, and we continue to strengthen our approach through the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill which will bear down on the use of UK companies as vehicles for facilitating corruption. The Procurement Bill will also add greater transparency in contracting, with more data making it easier for the public to scrutinise decisions and clearer requirements on managing potential conflicts of interest.

Department for International Trade

Department for International Trade: Recruitment

Christine Jardine: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much her Department spent on recruitment consultants in each of the last three years.

Nigel Huddleston: The Department for International Trade has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Economic Cooperation: South Carolina

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many meetings her (a) Ministers and (b) officials had with car manufacturers on the memorandum of understanding between the UK and South Carolina before the signing of that agreement.

Greg Hands: The Department for International Trade has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for International Trade: Holiday Leave

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether her Department has notified staff to (a) tell or (b) remind them that they can sell annual leave in the last four months.

Nigel Huddleston: The Department does not currently operate a policy which enables staff to sell annual leave. The Department has not notified staff to (a) tell or (b) remind them that they can sell annual leave in the last four months.

Trade Advisory Groups

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, when her Department last met the (a) Strategic Trade Advisory Group, (b) Civil Society Roundtable, (c) Trade Advisory Groups and (d) Thematic Working Groups.

Nigel Huddleston: The Strategic Trade Advisory Group and Civil Society Roundtable last met on 13 June 2022. There are eleven Trade Advisory Groups and the most recent meeting for a group took place on 2 December 2022. There are ten Thematic Working Groups, and the most recent meeting was on 26 January 2023.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

British Evacuees Association

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will take steps to provide support to the British Evacuees Association.

Stuart Andrew: With government support, charities and civil society organisations have shown significant resilience over the past few years.Government is supporting all organisations, including charities such as the British Evacuees Association, with their energy bills. This support has now been extended until March 2024 via the Energy Bills Discount Scheme. This scheme provides long term certainty for organisations and reflects how the scale of the challenge has changed since September last year.Whilst it is not usual for DCMS to provide direct funding to individual charities, the department will keep engaging constructively across the civil society sector to monitor the impact of rising costs, and signposting to other sources of funding where appropriate.

Charities: Finance

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help support charitable organisations with funding.

Stuart Andrew: With government support, charities and civil society organisations have shown significant resilience over the past few years, and will again be crucial in supporting communities and households through this challenging period.Government is supporting all organisations, including those across the civil society sector, with their energy bills. This support has now been extended until March 2024 via the Energy Bills Discount Scheme. This scheme provides long term certainty for organisations and reflects how the scale of the challenge has changed since September last year.Government’s support for energy bills sits alongside a range of existing funding that is delivered by central and local government in the form of grants and contracts. My Department will keep engaging constructively across the civil society sector to monitor the impact of rising costs, and signposting to other sources of funding where appropriate.

World War II: Anniversaries

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to commemorate Second World War evacuees.

Stuart Andrew: Government supports the commemoration of Second World War evacuees through the work of public bodies of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, including the National Lottery Heritage Fund.Since 1994, the National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded 120 grants, totalling £1,088,450, to projects across 95 local authorities that are specifically related to Second World War Evacuee activities. The Heritage Fund also works with museums, libraries and archives across the UK, funding a range of history-related projects, some of which will also go towards commemorating Second World War evacuees.The Department also directly sponsors Imperial War Museums, one of our national museums devoted to highlighting the stories and experiences of the Second World War, and evacuees.

Sportsgrounds: Advertising

Jamie Stone: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether (a) her Department and (b) bodies directed by her Department have responsibility for ensuring that (i) walls, (ii) advertising hoardings and (iii) other fixed objects around the perimeter of sports pitches are safe for professional sportspeople.

Stuart Andrew: The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount.Sports pitch perimeter safety is primarily the responsibility of the relevant national governing body of the sport, and the relevant competition/event organisers of the fixture.It is for individual clubs to carry out risk assessments and put in place mitigations that will improve player safety.

Broadband: Prices

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has received representations from (a) industry representatives and (b) consumers on BT Openreach’s proposed increase in the price of wholesale broadband; and what steps Ofcom can take under the Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review to alter the level of the increase.

Julia Lopez: Price regulation in the telecoms market is a matter for Ofcom as an independent regulator. Openreach’s prices are fixed by Ofcom as part of their five-year Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review (WFTMR) process and have been allowed to increase by CPI in order to reflect the significant additional costs faced when deploying new physical infrastructure. There are no plans to change the WFTMR until 2026. This is in line with industry requests for long-term stable regulation that incentivises competition and investment in the fixed telecoms market in order to increase the coverage of gigabit-capable networks as quickly as possible. This approach has been successful, with over 80 companies investing approximately £35 billion to connect premises across the UK.The Government’s Statement of Strategic Priorities for Ofcom, published in 2019, states that we want to see regulation that incentivises network investment and ensures fair and effective competition between new and existing network operators. The Department regularly meets with Ofcom at all levels to discuss progress against its strategic priorities. My officials also regularly engage with representatives across the telecoms sector. On wholesale price increases specifically, the Department has received representations from both industry members and consumer groups.

Music Venues: Tax Allowances

Chris Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will extend social investment tax relief to grassroots music venues.

Julia Lopez: Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) was introduced in the Finance Bill in 2014. It aims to incentivise individuals to invest in organisations (‘social enterprises’) whose trading activities seek to generate profit and bring social or community benefit.Eligibility criteria and guidance on how to apply for the relief scheme can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/venture-capital-schemes-apply-to-use-social-investment-tax-relief#trades.Most profit seeking commercial trades qualify for the relief, and the criteria do not explicitly rule out grassroots music venues from receiving it. However, if your trade includes things like including property development or leasing activities, your enterprise may not qualify for SITR on the basis certain trades are often asset backed or have predictable or guaranteed revenue streams, making them lower risk. In turn, this could divert capital away from higher-risk enterprises that genuinely struggle to raise finance.The Government keeps SITR under review in order to ensure it continues to meet its policy objectives in a way that is fair and effective.

Musicians: Finance

Chris Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to (a) support new and emerging talent performing at grassroots music venues and (b) improve funding opportunities.

Julia Lopez: The Government is committed to supporting emerging musical talent and our grassroots music venues, which are the lifeblood of our world-leading music sector.The Government is supporting grassroots music through Arts Council England’s (ACE’s) Supporting Grassroots Live Music (SGLM) ring fenced fund of £1.5m. The fund is designed for organisations - including venues and promoters - with little or no prior experience of public funding applications.  DCMS supported culture, including grassroots music, during Covid-19 through the unprecedented £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund (CRF). In England, the CRF provided immediate assistance to prevent 136 of our most loved and enduring grassroots music venues closing their doors for good.In addition, the Energy Bill Relief Scheme has provided support to all businesses across Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including grassroots music venues, protecting all non-domestic consumers from soaring energy costs, cutting the cost of power bills and providing them with the certainty they needed to plan through the acute crisis this winter. We will continue to do so through the Energy Bills Discount Scheme until Spring 2024.The Government also supports new and emerging talent through a range of export support programmes, including the successful Music Export Growth Scheme and the International Showcase Fund.DCMS and the Department for Education jointly published the National Plan for Music Education in June 2022, which sets out the Government’s vision to enable all children and young people in England to have the opportunity to progress their musical interests and talents, including professionally.Finally, DCMS is also developing a Creative Industries Sector Vision that will set out this Government’s ambitions, shared with industry, to support this high-growth sector to 2030.